Kanan Jarrus, an eventual Jedi Knight and member of Star Wars Rebels’ ensemble cast, actually had his origin story told in Marvel’s Star Wars: Kanan comics before the story was rewritten by Star Wars: The Bad Batch. The Bad Batch’s redefinition of Kanan was one of the most glaring instances of the post-2014 Star Wars canon timeline disregarding its own continuity, but the retcon highlights another issue. While The Bad Batch is an entertaining Star Wars series that focuses on the franchise’s underappreciated Clone Troopers, it doesn’t depict Kanan’s Order 66 experiences nearly as well as Star Wars: Kanan did.

Star Wars: Kanan was written by Greg Weisman - who wrote many episodes of Rebels and served as an executive producer on the series - with art by Pepe Larraz, Jacopo Camagni, and Andrea Broccardo. During the Battle of Kaller, Kanan (known as Caleb Dume at the time) and his Jedi Master, Depa Billaba, were sitting around a campfire with their Clone Troopers when Order 66 was issued, turning the clones against their Jedi friends and resulting in the deaths of Billaba and many of her troops. Kanan managed to escape Kaller, where he was hunted by two of his Clone Troopers, Captain Grey and Commander Styles.

Related: Star Wars: Kanan Jarrus’ Comics History Could Shape The Galaxy’s Future

At the end of Kanan’s first story arc, Captain Grey gradually overcomes the effects of his Order 66 control chip implant and sacrifices himself and Styles to save Kanan’s life, though the padawan would never know of the clone’s final act. The Bad Batch rewrites Kanan’s Order 66 origin, eschewing the bond that he and Billaba shared with their Clone Troopers as well as Grey’s sacrifice to save his friend, replacing a tragic story with a tie-in to The Bad Batch’s protagonists. While both properties tell exciting Star Wars stories, the continuity contradiction was unnecessary, especially when Kanan told a better version of the hero’s backstory.

Bad Batch Caleb Dune Kanan Rebels

The ongoing Star Wars canon timeline, which began in 2014, has far less respect for its own continuity than its predecessor, the Expanded Universe (now known as Star Wars Legends). While Legends made efforts to keep its stories consistent with each other (and tidied up discrepancies via retcon when necessary), canon screen media has made a consistent habit of disregarding the continuity of its printed media. In some cases, like Yoda’s lightsaber being destroyed in Marvel’s Darth Vader comics yet reappearing in The Book of Boba Fett, these contradictions can be remedied via retcon. In other cases, like events depicted in Kanan and the 2016 novel Ahsoka, stories are partially or entirely retold by screen media, creating a clear hierarchy of which stories truly matter.

The Star Wars canon timeline’s issues with continuity are exacerbated by instances like The Bad Batch overwriting Kanan. Already, The Bad Batch didn’t need to overwrite Kanan, since an original pair of Jedi (or two existing characters whose stories during Order 66 hadn’t been told yet) could have easily taken Billaba and Dume’s place. Fans of Star Wars: The Bad Batch's retconned version of events should make it a point to check out Star Wars: Kanan and make up their own minds about how advisable this retcon actually was.

Next: Yoda's Lightsaber Plot Hole Proves Star Wars Fans Misunderstand Continuity