The actor, who voices all five troopers, shares what fans can expect following season 1's climatic finale.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch ended its first season with the clone veterans facing an uncertain future. Season 2 of the Disney+ series picks up months after they narrowly escaped the watery grave of their cloning facility, leaving the elite troopers to examine their place in the galaxy post-Order 66. As Hunter points out in the trailer, they're up to the task, because, "You know what makes us different? We make our own choices."
Dee Bradley Baker, who voices each and every Bad Batch soldier, chatted with ET’s Ash Crossan about what fans can expect from the upcoming 16 episodes, which he’s ready to call “better than season 1.”
“[Season 2] has really interesting side roads that all feel very Star Wars,” Baker teases, adding that the new season's ostensibly standalone adventures and story arcs will connect “into the larger structure of what's playing out with Palpatine's rise.”
As promos revealed, the Emperor (Ian McDiarmid) appears in the new season. For now, it’s unclear how the Bad Batch crew will intersect with the galaxy’s newly installed dictator, who’s forced Hunter, Wrecker, Echo, and Tech to embark on an existential journey after the fall of the Republic. “It's fascinating to see Palpatine's iron grip starting to close,” Baker says. “And under that kind of stress, you find out who you are. They are finding out who they are and deciding how they're going to play it.”
One character who’s certainly at a crossroads is Crosshair. And when asked if choosing a favorite character is comparable to picking a favorite child, Baker confirms, “Yes, it is,” but it looks like the Bad Batch’s baddest pulled ahead in the show’s sophomore outing.
“Last season, I would have said Wrecker, because I just love that he's strong and he's open and fun and he can eat whatever he wants and I can't do that anymore,” Baker says with a laugh. “But this season, I think it might be Crosshair. This journey and what he goes through is really heartbreaking and he's a tough diamond of a character, who I think is made even more clarified and sharper and more revealed in this season. It's a really interesting story arc for who he is and what he's going through.”
Leading up to the season 1 finale, "Kamino Lost," the Bad Batch discovered Crosshair’s inhibitor chip was long gone ahead of the sharp shooter helping Imperial forces hunt down his former comrades. While his betrayal runs deep, the brothers also witnessed Crosshair's last-minute bullseye that saved the lives of Omega (Michelle Ang) and AZI-3 (Ben Diskin). And Baker’s quick to note -- sans spoilers of course -- that second chances are embedded in the DNA of George Lucas' universe.
“My favorite part is to follow Crosshair's journey and to really deepen that character with the trials that he is subjected to,” Baker offers. “I can't say what will happen with Crosshair, but I will say that Star Wars plays out in a moral universe. There's good and there's bad. There's consequences for the decisions that you make and there's also room for transformation and redemption… That is the optimism that is ultimately at the end of the tunnel for Star Wars.”
Meanwhile, the inaugural season’s final moments were reserved for Mistress Nala Se, who was told “the Empire has big things planned” for her “scientific talents.” After the finale aired in August 2021, online chatter jumped to lightspeed with speculation that Kamino’s former Chief Medical Scientist will become part of the Emperor Palpatine's cloning initiative that was revealed in The Rise of Skywalker.
Of course, in between Clone Force 99’s mercenary missions, their primary objective is looking after Omega. “[The Bad Batch] is also the heartfelt story of the child growing up [and] the guys trying to be dads and learning to deal with this wildly challenging, improvisational situation that's flying at them,” Baker shares, adding, “It's fun to see [Omega] come online with her status and authority within the group. That starts right out of the gate.”
Following the two-episode season premiere ("Spoils of War" and "Ruins of Wars), trailers for season 2 also tease that fans can anticipate reunions with more friends and foes, including Rex and Commander Cody (both voiced by Baker, as well). As he sees it, The Bad Batch falls in line with The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett and other Star Wars shows with standing invitations for familiar faces, as each series is “still taking chances” with tales “that connect back into this larger canon.”
While Lucasfilm prepares to expand its storytelling outside of the Skywalker timeline, The Bad Batch continues exploring the pre-A New Hope territory that fans loved in The Clone Wars and Rebels. For anyone who’s yet to peek at the newest lens at this beloved era, Baker doubles down on his praise for the boys’ next chapter in the galaxy far, far away.
“I really think that everybody who's ever seen any Star Wars is going to love these guys and Omega and the whole thing even more," he says. "I'm so impressed and just so in love with how much better it is, which I wouldn't have been able to believe unless I've seen it and I've seen it now and it's incredible.”
Season 2 of 'Star Wars: The Bad Batch' debuts new episodes Wednesdays on Disney+.
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