The latest trailer for The Bad Batch Season 3 surprised fans by bringing back Asajj Ventress for the Star Wars animated show's final set of episodes, and it looks like she might make further appearances in even more projects down the line.
Asajj Ventress’ last appearance in the canon timeline was during the book Dark Disciple, which takes place a few months after her final Clone Wars episode (Season 5, Episode 20).
By the end of the book, she dies after taking a Force lightning bolt from Count Dooku, which was meant for Jedi Master Quinlan Vos (who was hinted at in Obi-Wan Kenobi)—whom Asajj had developed deep feelings for.
[ Star Wars: Bad Batch S3's Asajj Ventress Return Explained by Producer ]
There Will (Probably) Be More Asajj Ventress
In an exclusive interview with The Direct’s Russ Milheim, The Bad Batch Head Writer Jennifer Corbett and Supervising Director Brad Rau revealed that Asajj Ventress will probably make more appearances in other Star Wars projects.
On why now was the time to introduce Asajj, Rau admitted that “[they’re] huge Ventress fans,” and that, despite her death in the canon book Dark Disciple, “[they’re] not contradicting anything that happened” in that novel:
“Yeah, I mean, we're huge Ventress fans. And when we talked with our creative team to figure out that we could bring her into the storyline. We were very excited. We pulled designs from unaired arcs of the Clone Wars which inspired the novel 'Dark Disciple', and we're not contradicting anything that happened in ‘Dark Disciple’.”
But then, Rau dropped a bombshell: “There may be future answers down the road in something else” when it comes to Ventress and her story:
"But I will say that not all of the answers to the mystery of interest will be told in 'The Bad Batch' show. There may be future answers down the road in something else. But it was really great to have that character in our show to interact with our characters. [It] was really cool.”
Another fun returning character that The Bad Batch brought aboard during its run was Scorch, an elite soldier from Delta Squad, a group who led their own fan-favorite video game in 2005 called Republic Commando.
However, Scorch doesn’t do too much in the series—but he is Doctor Hemlock’s personal bodyguard and leading officer. Sadly, none of his former squadmates have appeared in the show yet.
As for whether or not that might happen in the final season, Corbett confirmed that “you’ll be seeing Scorch more,” but as for the other members of Delta Squad, “[she] can’t really say:”
“Well, for ‘The Bad Batch’, you'll be seeing Scorch more. But, as for other Republican Commandos, I can't really say. But you know, there are so many stories to tell in Star Wars. So I'd say nothing's out of the realm of possibility for future content.”
Rau chimed in that their engineer and designer, David Collins, worked on the original Republic Commando game, and is a big fan:
“I will say that our sound engineer, sound designer, David Collins, also worked on 'Republic Commando' and is a big 'Republic Commando' fan. So there are more than you know, sounds from 'Republic Commando' all throughout 'The Bad Batch.'”
As for what might be next for the duo and what Era they’d want to focus on for another future animated show, Corbett made it clear that she was up for anything as long as she has “a character that’s worth exploring:”
“I'd say any era of Star Wars is fun to play in as if you have a character that's worth exploring. So yeah, That's the best part of Star Wars storytelling is all of the content that you can do in this galaxy.”
The entire interview can be viewed below:
Where Could Asajj Ventress Appear Next?
What would be neat, and something many fans would go bonkers over, is if her appearance in The Bad Batch sets the character up to return in live action.
There’s no better time.
Ahsoka was all about Nightsister magic, and Ventress knows all about it. In fact, it could even play into how she’s alive in the first place.
The former Sith apprentice could be the secret weapon Hera, Ezra, and the rest of the Republic need to fight back against Thrawn. Asajj would certainly make for a great character poster to attract audiences for Dave Filoni’s big MandoVerse movie.
As for Republic Commando’s Delta Squad, there’s no better place (besides a proper video game sequel) to offer up some resolution to those characters than The Bad Batch. Hopefully, the final season can give fans a little something—because who knows if the opportunity will ever come knocking again.
When this show comes to a complete close, the real question is, what animated show will fill the void? Many fans are hoping the High Republic Era can get some love.
[ Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 3 Release Date Schedule (Confirmed) ]
The Bad Batch Season 3 premieres on February 21 on Disney+.
