Disney has recently omitted Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 2 from its Star Wars 2022 roundup. The animated series first debuted on May 4 of last year as a spinoff of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. It continued the story right where The Clone Wars left off, following the enhanced clones of Clone Force 99 (Dee Bradley Baker) and their newest addition Omega (Michelle Ang), a female clone made from the pure DNA of Jango Fett, through the galaxy in the aftermath of Order 66 and the rise of the Galactic Empire.
The Bad Batch season 1 set up for some intriguing plot lines in season 2. For one, Crosshair has willingly let himself remain with the Empire rather than going back to his crew of brothers (and sister). Though he's told the Batch that his chip was removed a long time ago, a telltale headache he received during the season 1 finale may prove that he was lying, and that Crosshair may still be in need of rescue from the Batch. The season 1 finale ended with a scene of the Kaminoan Nala Se being transported to a new cloning facility of the Empire, where she was greeted by a worker who wore the same cloning uniform as Dr. Pershing from The Mandalorian. In the midst of all this, the Batch is still on the run from the Empire, and the choice is still theirs as to what they'll do without their responsibilities as soldiers of the Republic.
Now, viewers may have to wait even longer to see what the Batch will be up to. In The Walt Disney Company's 2022 Annual Meeting of Shareholders webcast, Disney CEO Bob Iger provided a brief roundup of upcoming Star Wars series for the year. The only two he listed were Andor and Obi-Wan Kenobi, along with a teaser trailer of the latter. This contradicts previous statements where The Bad Batch season 2 was confirmed by Disney for 2022 release, but could line up with the recent decision to remove the "Spring 2022" label from the series in new issues of Star Wars Insider. With no other updates on the series, however, it seems that the show is experiencing delays that will set back its release date further than expected.
Viewers don't have to feel too disheartened just yet about this apparent delay of The Bad Batch season 2. It could be that Disney is still planning to release the sophomore season of the animated series after Andor season 1 wraps up in the fall or early winter, especially if they desire to prevent various Star Wars series from overlapping. The Mandalorian season 3 was also omitted from this 2022 roundup, despite the fact it's been reported that it may release around Christmas time of this year. There's also a gap between the conclusion of the 6-episode limited Obi-Wan Kenobi series and the reported start of Andor, which means The Bad Batch season 2 could've been omitted simply because there is no exact release date set yet for that open time period.
In the waiting, viewers can still be excited about all the new Star Wars content that's to come in 2022. The release of the first trailer for the highly anticipated Obi-Wan Kenobi has promised an epic follow-up to the events of Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, which arrives on May 25. Andor will also serve as a riveting prequel to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which has since became a fan-favorite tale from the Star Wars galaxy. To have Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 2 in the mix would be ideal, but either way, viewers can continue to hope that the Star Wars content released in the meantime will make the wait for the sophomore season very well worth it.
Source: The Walt Disney Company