Jennifer Corbett, the executive producer and writer of Disney+'s latest animated series Star Wars: The Bad Batch, explains the process behind choosing which characters to cameo in the show. The Bad Batch is the fourth canon Star Wars animated series released by Lucasfilm, serving as a spiritual successor to the fan-favorite Star Wars: The Clone Wars series, which aired its final season last year. The show has proven to be a love letter to Star Wars, implementing references and cameos from throughout the various eras of the franchise.
So far, the show has featured Jabba's infamous lackey Bib Fortuna (Matthew Wood), the scrap world of Bracca (first featured in the video game Jedi: Fallen Order), Fennec Shand (with Ming-Na Wen reprising her role from The Mandalorian), along with a host of other connections as well. Last week's episode titled "Reunion" caused a bit of a stir in the fandom with the return of the fan-favorite bounty hunter Cad Bane, who hasn't made an onscreen appearance since season 4 of The Clone Wars back in 2012. The Duros gunslinger played a crucial role in kidnapping Omega – the child clone whom the titular Bad Batch has been protecting throughout the series.
In an exclusive interview with Screen Rant, executive producer and writer Jennifer Corbett shed light on how cameos are decided upon in the writers' room. In the wake of the devastating Clone Wars, Corbett imagines that "bounty hunters are thriving," which accounts for the appearances of characters like Fennec Shand and Cad Bane. The team wants to ensure that any characters that appear ultimately end up "serving the Bad Batch's story." You can read her full statement below:
We always just want to make sure that whoever we’re bringing in into these stories is serving the Bad Batch’s story. So when you’re talking about the rise of the Empire, who is actually - in a character sense - thriving at that time? Out in the galaxy, who can the Batch cross paths with that actually makes sense? From Bib [Fortuna], you know - and Cid is a very shady character, so through the list of her contacts, it makes sense that she would have some kind of underworld connections. Right now is a time bounty hunters are thriving, I imagine, in the galaxy, so it was an interesting opportunity to be able to bring Fennec [Shand], who is new to the scene. And then when we bring in Cad Bane, just to see the difference in how the two of them operate - because, again, it made sense for the storyline with Omega and the Batch, and when we’re talking about bounty hunters, to organically bring those two in.
With Disney+'s catalog of Star Wars content continuing to expand, new Star Wars shows have been working together to form a cohesive universe over several in-universe decades. Characters from The Clone Wars, Star Wars: Rebels, The Mandalorian, and now The Bad Batch have been intermingling and appearing in each other's shows, frequently in unexpected ways. As these projects continue to evolve, more cross-cultural connections will be inevitable.
Disney announced last year that future Star Wars series are expected to crossover in a story event in the vein of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Although that event is still years away, the success of the crossovers between current Star Wars projects has shown the creative heads at Lucasfilm are more than capable of juggling multiple projects at once while ensuring they all cohere in a satisfying (and surprising) way. With half of the show still left to air, The Bad Batch will undoubtedly have some more surprises left in store. New episodes of Star Wars: The Bad Batch release every Friday on Disney+.
