Star Wars: The Clone Wars is remembered fondly because the animated series offered more depth to the mythology of George Lucas’ prequel trilogy, and has since been tied into many of the saga’s live-action shows. Dave Filoni’s anthology series was uneven in quality, but its most significant breakthrough was its depiction of clone troopers, who were made distinct thanks to the brilliant vocal performance(s) of Dee Bradley Baker. While the identical clones of Jango Fett had previously been depicted as emotionless pawns, The Clone Wars examined the tragedy of men bred to serve as loyal followers to Jedi leaders they would eventually be forced to betray.
Confronting the clones’ future after Order 66 was only briefly dealt with in The Clone Wars’ series finale, but it was the central focus of the underrated spinoff show The Bad Batch. Set after the events of the prequels, and debuting five years ago today, the show had its heroes confront the weight of fascism and strive to make a small difference, themes the live-action Star Wars universe would eventually tackle with Andor. The three-season series isn’t only the darkest that Star Wars animation got, but is representative of the ambition the galaxy far, far away needs.
