For Star Wars fans the Rebellion and the Empire have always gone hand in hand and The Bad Batch proves that this has been true from the moment Palpatine declared himself the Emperor.
In the premiere of The Bad Batch, our titular characters were sent on a mission to prove themselves by Admiral Tarkin himself. The Bad Batch were told they were going after Separatist insurgents only to find out the people they were sent to kill were civilians, children, and former Republic fighters led by none other than Saw Gerrera. Many Star Wars fans know Saw as a radical Rebellion fighter in both Rebels and Rogue One.
The Bad Batch revealed that from the moment Palpatine declared himself Emperor Saw Gerrera knew that trouble was brewing. Saw Gerrera was suspicious of Palpatine from the start. He points out to the Bad Batch that Palpatine not only “unjustly” appointed himself Emperor, but by slaughtering the Jedi and taking control of the Clone Troopers, he now has total control over the entire galaxy.
And although the Clone War may be over, Saw is nowhere near ready to stop fighting. Declaring that a civil war is coming to the galaxy and as Star Wars fans are well aware Saw Gerrera is proven right. And when Hunter tells Saw his group doesn’t stand a chance, Saw Gerrera is already planting the seeds of other rebels when he replies, “Not alone we don’t”.
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The rebellion, even as individual cells, began the moment Palpatine enacted his Empire, but what is interesting is that these rebels are directly tied to Palpatine’s own apprentice. Echo mentions in the episode that Saw Gerrera was trained by General Skywalker to fight for the Republic, but Anakin’s ties to these Rebellion fighters could go beyond simply training them to fight.
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In the fifth season of The Clone Wars, Saw Gerrera was trained by Ahsoka Tano, Captain Rex, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and none other than Anakin Skywalker himself. Saw along with his sister and other resistance fighters on the planet Onderon, pled for help from the Jedi in overthrowing the Separatist rule. And while the Jedi council was initially hesitant, it was actually Anakin Skywalker who lobbied to train the, in his own words, “rebels”.
Anakin not only trained some of the very rebels, notably Saw Gerrera, who later fight against him and Palpatine’s government, he was the one to convince the Jedi that the groups of resistance fighters on planets across the galaxy were worth training and could be a powerful force. Although it wasn’t shown in The Clone Wars, it does seem possible that the Jedi could have used Onderon as an example of how to train small groups of rebels how to fight against the Separatists. This could mean that Anakin himself is in part responsible for helping the Rebellion learn how to successfully fight against a government they oppose which after the Clone War is the very Empire he serves.
Without Anakin Skywalker there may not be Saw Gerrera, who easily could have been killed without the assistance of the Jedi and the Republic. And even if Anakin’s legacy within the rebellion doesn’t expand beyond Saw Gerrera, the Jedi’s impact is important to note if for no other reason then Saw Gerrera taking his lessons to heart and training other rebel fighters. Saw Gerrera became a powerful enemy of the Empire and although he wasn’t ever truly a part of the Rebel Alliance, believing them to be too soft, this scene in The Bad Batch shows that many saw the dangers of this Empire before it even took hold over the galaxy.
Obviously Saw isn’t the only one to recognize the dangers of this new Empire and its ruler. The Jedi were concerned about Palpatine’s immense power over the Senate even before learning that he was in fact the Sith Lord they were searching for. And in a deleted scene from Revenge of the Sith, Senators Bail Organa and Mon Mothma were already making plans to start a resistance before the Republic became the Empire.
They gathered allies from the Senate, including Padme Amidala, and began planning for the worst, which obviously ended up happening. And while this scene was not included in Revenge of the Sith, it’s worth noting because of Bail Organa and Mon Mothma’s importance to the leadership of the Rebel Alliance.
The rebellion began as a number of small groups working to oppose the Empire on a more local level, either individual planets or a single star system. The Rebel Alliance isn’t truly formed until the third season of Rebels, when Mon Mothma successfully urges the individual rebel cells to form together as the Rebel Alliance.
The Bad Batch will continue to explore this era of the Star Wars when the Empire rises to power and expands their reach across the galaxy, but it looks like the Rebellion could also come into play as well. This opens the door to the Bad Batch themselves possibly getting involved with the rebellion in some capacity which would be an interesting development especially now that they are soldiers without an army or a cause.
Whether or not we see Saw Gerrera make another appearance in The Bad Batch remains to be seen, but this moment was powerful for Star Wars fans who have seen the Rebellion fighting against the Empire from the beginning of the franchise in A New Hope. The Empire may be rising, but so is the Rebellion.
The premiere of The Bad Batch is available now on Disney Plus with new episodes debuting every Friday. Do you hope to see Saw Gerrera in The Bad Batch again? Leave your thoughts in the comments below or on our social media.
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