Star Wars Changed Skin Color of Clones After Whitewashing Backlash, Confirms Director

The director for Lucasfilm’s Star Wars animated series, The Bad Batch, commented on the skin tone changes for Clone Force 99.

Back when The Bad Batch was about to air its first season, many noted something peculiar: the skin tone of the leading characters was much lighter than every other clone. Seeing as how they all come from the same DNA, it’s obvious that they certainly shouldn’t be any whiter than they were.

This led to many fans claiming that the creatives were whitewashing the cast. However, by the time Season 1 aired, it was all fixed—everyone had the same skin color as Temuera Morrison, the man behind Jango Fett.

Now, the reason for that change has been confirmed.

The Bad Batch Makes Important Changes

Before the first season of The Bad Batch aired on Disney+, many fans called out the skin tone of the leading group, Clone Force 99.

They were undeniably whiter than they were before, or any Clone for that matter. By the time Season One landed, the issue had been fixed behind the scenes as if it were never there in the first place.

In a new interview with Collider, The Bad Batch director Brad Rau commented on the team's response to the #UnwhitewashTheBadBatch movement from fans.

Rau noted that they "listened" to the fans and "made some corrections," as they also wanted to "[remain] true to the legacy of the Clones:"

"We listened to all the concerns of the fans. Interestingly, in Season 1, before season one came out, we’re always doing this, we went back to look at the skin tones, and we made some corrections to make sure that we’re being true to the legacy of the Clones in 'Clone Wars'. Absolutely, 100%."

A More Accurate Bad Batch

In all honesty, there was almost certainly no intent behind the incorrect skin tone. Simply put, it was a mistake—one that Lucasfilm promptly corrected when it became noticed.

It’s also a great thing for the series to be as accurate as possible, which the correction also helps accomplish.

Though the mistake may have been harmlessly made, there’s no question that creatives need to be more aware of those situations. Preferably, something like that would be caught and corrected long before the wider audience gets a chance to call it out.

It’s also great for Morrison, as it keeps an endless amount of roles open for the Māori actor to play. As long as Star Wars goes on, the Boba Fett performer will be set.

The Bad Batch Season 2 premieres its first two episodes on January 4.