What The Bad Batch's Creators Want You To Know About Omega And The Mandalorian's Grogu - Exclusive

The "Star Wars" franchise has introduced countless characters over the decades, but it's arguable that few have made a greater impact than Grogu, more colloquially known as Baby Yoda. This adorable Force adept and devourer of frogs became an instant fan favorite when he appeared at the end of the first episode of Disney+'s "The Mandalorian," and the response to the story of a child with special abilities coming under the care of a battle-hardened warrior was overwhelmingly positive.

That considered, one could be forgiven for finding some striking similarities between the tale of Grogu and Mando (played by Pedro Pascal) and what we're seeing unfold on "Star Wars: The Bad Batch," in which a (clone) child with (unrevealed but hinted at) special abilities comes under the care of a (squad of) battle-hardened warrior(s). According to the people behind the show, however, there are some striking differences between the two. Looper found out as much when we sat down with "The Bad Batch" producers Jennifer Corbett and Brad Rau, who want you to know what makes the relationship between Omega and Clone Squad 99 unique.

Jennifer Corbett and Brad Rau assert that what most distinguishes the Omega/Bad Batch relationship from the Mando/Grogu pairing is that, in the former's case, both parties are in totally unfamiliar territory. 

"Mando, in those flashbacks in which we saw him, he had parents, and he had a childhood before the purge," Corbett told Looper. "With the Bad Batch, they're clones who were created and then trained, and were never really children. Their only purpose in life was to be soldiers for the Republic. They have a very narrow view of the galaxy beyond being a soldier. And then Omega has a completely different perspective, because even though she was raised on Kamino, it's all she's known. So she knows science, she knows Kamino, but she hasn't set foot anywhere else. So both groups are just fish out of water. And I think that they help each other grow in these adventures that they go on."

Rau agreed, noting how even though Clone Squad 99 are hardened soldiers, they haven't seen much of life outside of a military setting. That's what makes "The Bad Batch" unique. "You take this motley crew, this motley family, and you throw them into a situation where they're hungry. Now what do they do? That's different. That's not a mission objective," Rau said. "So, that's where I think we get some interesting differences from things you've seen in other shows.

"Star Wars: The Bad Batch" is currently streaming on Disney+.