Annlyel James 
Is it time for Star Wars to explore new timelines instead of returning The Clone Wars era with The Bad Batch?
Star Wars seems to never want to tell a new story. Lucasfilm has been boasting that the Star Wars universe is filled with tons and tons of stories just waiting to be told…yet the only stories that Lucasfilm keeps telling us seem to revolve in the same time bubble that we’ve been enjoying since the 70s’. Just think about the animated and live-action series as well as the movies we’ve gotten in the last five decades (present and future.)
(I will write them in chronological order. Movies and television shows set between Attack of the Clones and A New Hope will be written in bold lettering.)
The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, The Clone Wars, Revenge of the Sith, The Bad Batch, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Star Wars: Rebels, the Untitled Obi-Wan Kenobi Series, Cassian Andor Series, Rogue One, A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, The Mandalorian, The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, Star Wars: Resistance, The Rise of Skywalker.
You see all of that bold lettering? Those are the stories that keep revolving around the same era of storytelling even though there is plenty of room elsewhere. Thankfully, there were shows like The Mandalorian and Star Wars: Resistance that tried to give us different stories but it’s still not quite enough. Star Wars fatigue was a concern of fans a few years ago and now I’m beginning to understand why. As I looked through the comments on Twitter concerning the announcement of The Bad Batch animated series set to arrive next year the praise wasn’t searing. In fact, there were a lot of people who wanted a different story to be told.
And no, I didn’t think “The Bad Batch” was that cool, to begin with. I mean, one of them is practically Rambo for goodness sake which I’m sure is cool for some Star Wars bros but I’m not into it. He didn’t even feel like a proper Star Wars character! And honestly, how many more clones do we need to keep seeing? If you want to make an animated series about a clone let it be about Rex after the events of Order 66. Now, that’s interesting!
I have a bit of hope considering that Dave Filoni is behind this story but I definitely did not expect these clones, which showed up in the first arc of The Clone Wars‘ final season, to be getting their own series. (An arc that I enjoyed mainly because of Anakin, Obi-Wan, Padme, and Mace Windu’s contributions, not The Bad Batch.) I wish I could say I’m excited but I’m far from it.
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Annlyel James is a prolific Staff Writer for The Future of the Force. She is passionate about Star Wars and Marvel but loves a wide variety of movie genres. Aside from her role with Future of the Force she also writes for her own blog: annlyelonline. Follow her on Twitter @annlyeljames where she channels the Force frequently!
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Annlyel James is a Senior Correspondent of The Future of the Force. She is passionate about Star Wars and Marvel but loves a wide variety of movie genres. Aside from her role with Future of the Force she also writes for her blog: annlyelonline. Follow her on Twitter where she channels the Force frequently!
