As a rather perfect celebration of Star Wars Day, Star Wars: The Bad Batch just began its high-expectation first season. Dave Filoni's new entry into his already substantial stable of animated Star Wars series seems poised to tell some new stories, and fans all over are excited to experience them. Among those fans are the hosts of Good Morning America, who brought Filoni on their show to discuss the new series and sneakily probed him for any clues they could get on the mysterious upcoming 3rd season of the insanely popular The Mandalorian.
The segment began with Filoni promoting The Bad Batch, which is a spin-off/sequel of his other show The Clone Wars, giving a brief synopsis and showing off a surprisingly short clip. When asked by the GMA hosts what the new show was about and how it ties into The Clone Wars, Filoni said, "A lot of kids grew up with The Clone Wars. Now they're a lot older, so we wanted to tell a story that explains what [the clones] do when something they fought for, that they believe in, the Republic changed and became the evil Empire that I grew up watching in Star Wars. So it's a nice period of transition." The Bad Batch also features the first female clone, setting a precedent for some interesting new stories to be told.
Filoni then went on to answer some fan questions before the bit ended with the hosts attempting to extract even the tiniest bit of information about The Mandalorian season 3. "We're both working on that, we're working on [The Book of Boba Fett] right now," he said with a laugh, admitting he didn't want to say much without showrunner Jon Favreau. "I can't really say anything specific, but I think the Force will be strong with it, let's just say that." The hosts jokingly lamented how it's impossible to get anything new about Marvel or Star Wars projects, but perhaps Filoni hinted at something ever so slightly with a deceptively non-committal answer.
Season 2 of The Mandalorian heavily featured themes surrounding the Jedi and the Force, with appearances from characters like Ahsoka Tano and even a well-kept secret cameo from Luke Skywalker himself. After everyone's favorite frog-eating alien Grogu apparently left the show at the end of the season, many assumed the series's force-centric aspect would be toned down a bit going forward. But maybe Filoni is hinting at even more Jedi showing up as the story moves forward. It's already likely that the ancient Jedi artifact known as the Darksaber will play a big role in the story going forward, as will Katee Sackhoff's Bo Katan, so it might not be that farfetched to assume. Sure, the "Force will be strong with it" line could just be a random repetition of a standard in-universe phrase. But isn't it more fun to speculate?
Other highlights from the interview include Filoni passing on one of his biggest takeaways from George Lucas, which is that Star Wars is primarily made for kids, and that should always be kept in mind when telling new stories in the series. That's not to say everything should be only for children, but he believes that the themes of hope and inspiration should always be there for that reason. He also addressed the newly established High Republic era, admitting that he can't say anything at the moment about whether it will be explored in any upcoming shows or films, but that "you never know" what might happen in the future.
Filoni might be one of the most respected figures in Star Wars right now, and for good reason. His stories appeal to wide audiences and respect established lore and characters while still doing new things with them. Here's hoping the wait for new info about The Mandalorian isn't too much longer, but for now, The Bad Batch certainly looks to be the beginning of a great time.
The Mandalorian season 3 is currently in production. New episodes of Star Wars: The Bad Batch premiere Fridays on Disney Plus.
Source: Good Morning America