The Characters In The New Star Wars: The Bad Batch Trailer That Have Fans Overjoyed

Lucasfilm and Disney+ just delivered a fantastic surprise for Star Wars fans, premiering the trailer for the upcoming animated series Star Wars: The Bad Batch. The new show is a spinoff of the fan-favorite series Star Wars: The Clone Wars that ran from 2008 to 2020, jumping from Cartoon Network to Netflix, and finishing up on the Disney streaming service. The upcoming series will focus on the soldiers of Clone Force 99, also known as the "Bad Batch." According to the official Star Wars site, they are "a unique squad of clones who vary genetically from their brothers in the Clone Army [and] each possess a singular exceptional skill, which makes them extraordinarily effective soldiers and a formidable crew."

The voice cast is mainly Dee Bradley Baker as various Clone Trooper roles. Bradley Baker has an extensive voice acting history, and he's played many characters in the Star Wars universe, starting all the way back in 2003 with the video game Star Wars: Jedi Knight – Jedi Academy. In The Bad Batch, he will be reprising many of the roles he played in The Clone Wars and Star Wars Resistance. So far, the only other cast member confirmed is Ming-Na Wen, who plays Fennec Shand, who she also appears as in the live-action series The Mandalorian.

The new trailer provides a great sneak peek at the world of The Bad Batch and some of the characters that will appear in the series. For long-time fans of Star Wars, there are quite a few exciting faces in the trailer, but a handful of specific characters have people very hyped up.

One of the first characters fans are really excited to see in the animated series is Fennec Shand, but her appearance was confirmed last year. The Bad Batch will be the perfect opportunity to set up storylines for her future appearance in The Book of Boba Fett. The animated series is set way before The Mandalorian and the upcoming live-action spinoff, so fans will get to see some of her backstory and how Fennec became the ruthless assassin you know and love. 

Along with Fennec, Saw Gerrera is a character fans are ecstatic to see in The Bad Batch. Like Fennec, Saw has appeared in a past live-action Star Wars project, but his first overall appearance was in The Clone Wars back in 2012. Saw is a resistance fighter during the Clone Wars who later becomes a key figure in the fight against the Galactic Empire. The character appears in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (played by Forest Whitaker) and is the older mentor to Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones). Saw sacrifices himself to save others and continue the cause. 

A fan on Twitter with the username @GeneralPigeon said, "Saw coming back is super interesting, maybe a look into what turned him into his Rouge One version?" The Bad Batch will reportedly take place immediately following the Clone Wars and the events of Revenge of the Sith, so hopefully the series will help bridge the gap between the two versions of Saw that fans know.

Alongside Saw, some people even had love for Moff Tarkin's appearance in The Bad Batch, the character played by Peter Cushing in the original Star Wars film. But the other character that really surprised fans in the trailer was Captain Rex. Although there were rumors about the iconic character's return in the new series, the trailer is the first confirmation. The short video only shows a few seconds of Rex, but that appears to be enough for some. One fan, @TheRealREXZZ, said that it doesn't matter if it's "for 5 minutes or for 20, just glad to see him have something to do with this." 

Rex is a captain and commander of the clone forces for the Republic during the Clone Wars, and he continues to fight for freedom long after. The character cares deeply for his fellow clones, and he has a particularly close friendship with Clone Marshall Commander Cody, someone fans also hope to see in The Bad Batch. Another character Rex is close with is fan-favorite Ahsoka Tano, and he serves as a mentor of sorts for the padawan. Many fans hope Ahsoka will return to the animated world of Star Wars in The Bad Batch as well, before appearing in her own live-action series on Disney+, which has no set release date yet.  

The new animated series Star Wars: The Bad Batch will premiere on Disney+ on May 4, 2021, with new episodes releasing each following Friday.