CinemaBlend participates in affiliate programs with various companies. We may earn a commission when you click on or make purchases via links.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars introduced a lot of popular characters during its run, among them being Cad Bane, one of the most dangerous bounty hunters in a galaxy far, far away. While The Clone Wars wasn’t able to deliver its full Cad Bane vision due to the series being cancelled before his next story arc could be delivered, the character is now back in play thanks to Disney+’s Star Wars: The Bad Batch. Bane reemerged in the episode “Reunion,” and just like in his Clone Wars appearances, he caused a lot of trouble.
During my recent interview with Star Wars: The Bad Batch supervising director Brad Rau, I asked how the decision to bring Cad Bane into the series came about, whether or not Bane’s unfinished story arc from The Clone Wars complicated his inclusion. Rau responded:
I can speak to the design of it, we definitely looked at the designs that were created for that arc, which were a little different than the classic old-school Cad Bane. So we used that as a jumping off point to develop what he would look like in The Bad Batch. So there’s a lot of DNA of that in that episode, and even some of the camera language there was intentionally paid homage to in that moment. So it wasn’t a complication, I think it was more an opportunity to have fun with the character.
Before Star Wars: The Bad Batch, Cad Bane’s last canon on-screen appearance was in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 4 episode “Crisis on Naboo,” which concluded a story arc involving Bane and a small group of other bounty hunters being hired to kidnap Chancellor Palpatine on Naboo. Thanks to Obi-Wan Kenobi, the scheme was foiled and Bane was arrested. Had The Clone Wars gone as long as originally planned, Cad Bane would have returned for a tale involving him and some other bounty hunters mentoring young Boba Fett, and that would have culminated in a gunfight between Bane and Fett.
Granted, Disney+ later brought back Star Wars: The Clone Wars for a seventh and final season, but since it consisted of just 12 episodes, only a few of those planned story arcs could be fully realized. As such, Cad Bane never returned in Star Wars: The Clone Wars after Season 4, but now he’s back in action for Star Wars: The Bad Batch, which takes place immediately after Clone Wars. At the end of “Reunion,” we learned that like Fennec Shand, Bane had been hired to retrieve Omega, and despite Hunter’s best efforts, the bounty hunter succeeded in kidnapping the young clone.
As Brad Rau noted, design and camera framing aspects of Cad Bane’s scrapped Clone Wars arc were incorporated into Star Wars: The Bad Batch, but it remains to be seen is any narrative elements from that arc will also be incorporated into Bane’s time on Disney+’s newest Star Wars series. Obviously things can’t unfold exactly the same as was originally mapped out, but the prospect of seeing Bane with Boba Fett, and perhaps the Batchers and Omega also crossing paths with the Jango Fett clone who will also become a feared bounty hunter and eventually lead his own Star Wars series, is exciting.
New episodes of Star Wars: The Bad Batch premiere Fridays on Disney+, so make sure you’re subscribed to the Mouse House’s streaming service. And as always, stay locked on CinemaBlend for the biggest news about upcoming Star Wars movies and TV shows.
