Summary. Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 3 premieres on February 21, continuing the story of Clone Force 99 from The Clone Wars season 7. Fans should watch key episodes from The Clone Wars to understand the character arc of Asajj Ventress, who returns in season 3 of The Bad Batch.
Should I watch The Clone Wars before The Bad Batch?
Whilst there are likely more episodes and other media to help provide some backstory to the members of The Bad Batch and other characters set to appear, the above episodes from The Clone Wars and The Mandalorian should give you the best possible place to start.
First introduced in their own arc in Season 7 of The Clone Wars, Clone Force 99 (also known colloquially as “The Bad Batch”) is a tight knit group of genetically altered clone troopers, each possessing their own unique skill set (or “desirable mutations”).
As groundbreaking as George Lucas' animated TV show may have been, not every experiment works, and the anthology structure didn't. It's much better to watch the Clone Wars in chronological order.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch is the direct sequel to The Clone Wars, both in time period and in subject matter, as the first few minutes overlap with The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Episode III — The Revenge of the Sith.
The Clone Wars... before you watch (first time watch guide)
Where does bad batch fit in the timeline?
Most of the series takes place between 19 years before the Battle of Yavin (19 BBY) and 17 years before the Battle of Yavin (17 BBY), these busy two years still form an important picture of life in the Star Wars galaxy in the first few years of Palpatine's rule as Emperor.
Rex is actually 31 years old, though his biological state is likely closer to at least sixty years, due to the accelerated aging that was genetically installed in all Clone Troopers.
The vast majority of the story arcs during this year take place before the final Star Wars prequel movie, though the last four episodes occur simultaneously with and after the film.
Once the show's popularity took off and the animators had more opportunities to fine-tune their craft, The Clone Wars started improving its animation as the seasons went along, which allowed it to branch out into other settings and tackle new situations.
The episodes themselves are all officially canon, while the tie-in works (with a couple exceptions) are not, but I'm including them anyway since I've no better place to put them.
Lucasfilm Animation has just delivered an explosive new trailer for the third and final season of "Star Wars: The Bad Batch," which begins its last missions beginning on Feb. 21, 2024 with a trio of fresh episodes that set up a daring rescue operation sure to rock the galaxy far, far away.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars is one of the best shows on Disney+, but the timeline can be a bit confusing, mainly because Star Wars: The Clone Wars is technically an anthology series, so many of the episodes and series arcs are told out of chronological order.
If you intend to watch The Mandalorian and the upcoming Ahsoka, I would not recommend skipping either Clone Wars or Rebels. But if you really don't want to watch it all, I would recommend at least watching the following: Star Wars: The Clone Wars - the movie that serves as a pilot to the series.
Is it worth watching Clone Wars in chronological order?
First off, if you didn't already know, the Clone Wars episodes, in pure George Lucas fashion, aren't in chronological order. You can watch it season-by-season without too much trouble, but I would highly recommend the chronological order, which starwars.com has helpfully provided, and what I'll be using in this guide.
These last four episodes of Clone Wars is the best Star Wars movie I've seen in a while. Content collapsed. Season 7 was really all about the final story, and it was more than worth reviving the series for, and stands alongside the very best from the series and its sequel.
The series was cancelled in March 2013, after the conclusion of its fifth season, as a result of The Walt Disney Company's acquisition of Lucasfilm and the decision to "pursue a new direction in animated programming".
The arc was originally intended as the show's series finale, and takes place days before and during the events of Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith, including Order 66. The arc was referenced in Star Wars Rebels and partly adapted in the young-adult novel Ahsoka.
Ahsoka returns in the seventh and final season of The Clone Wars, being the focus of two of the three story arcs featured in the season, which aired in 2020 on Disney+.
Whether or not he was the rebel commando named Nik Sant is the subject of debate: However, in the New Canon Rex did serve with Luke, Han and Leia at least once.
The “Ahsoka” series is expected to be set around the same time as “The Mandalorian” – almost eight years after the events of “Return of the Jedi,” by which time the Rex character will be a chronological age of 44 and a biological age/appearance of a man well into his 80s (Morrison is 62).
