One Bad Batch Retcon Has Changed A Major Star Wars Rebels Plot For The Worse

Summary The Bad Batch retconned Kanan Jarrus' experience during Order 66, changing major themes of his story and development.

The original version justified Kanan's view of clones as traitors, but The Bad Batch contradicted this, making his story worse.

Kanan's journey to accept clones was a significant arc in Star Wars Rebels, but The Bad Batch undermined it.

The Bad Batch has made several changes to Star Wars canon, and while most of them have been good, one such change hurts a major plot line in Rebels. The Bad Batch has featured several retcons, from introducing new concepts like clone personalities changing after Order 66, to major changes like undoing Asajj Ventress' death in Dark Disciple. Many of those retcons are hugely important to the future of Star Wars movies and shows, but one change has redefined a part of the franchise's past in Star Wars Rebels.

The Bad Batch has connected to Rebels in the past, but they usually offered additional insight into the show and its characters, rather than changing things fundamentally. Clone Force 99 helped Cham and Hera Syndulla on Ryloth, for example, which expanded upon Hera's backstory. The Bad Batch also connected to Kanan Jarrus' story by depicting his experience during Order 66, but that particular reference changed his story for the worse.

Related Who Is Kanan Jarrus? Jacen Syndulla's Father & Jedi History Explained Huyang mentions Jacen Syndulla's father Kanan Jarrus, in Ahsoka episode 5, a Jedi Knight whose backstory may hint at his son's future in the Force.

The Bad Batch Retconned Kanan's History With Clones

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Originally, in Rebels and accompanying comics, Kanan's experience during Order 66 was simply terrifying. At one moment, he and the clones in Depa Billaba's company were joking around after emerging from battle victorious, and the next, he was stunned and motionlessly watching in horror as all his friends attacked and his master began to kill them. That caused Kanan to feel extreme guilt for being stunned by the clones' betrayal and not helping Depa, but in The Bad Batch, the only reason he didn't help was because she explicitly told him to run.

As social media user just_jayd3n_ pointed out, the changes The Bad Batch made to Kanan's experience with Order 66 not only changed the details of his survival, they also changed major themes of his story in relation to the clones.

In the original version, Kanan's view of the clones as traitors was justified, because the same clones he called friends tried to kill him without a moment's hesitation. In The Bad Batch, Clone Force 99, except Crosshair, tried to help him, which contradicts Kanan's later view that all clones were traitors. That decision not only changed a major part of Kanan's development in Rebels, it made it worse.

Kanan's Coming To Accept Clones Is A Massive Star Wars Rebels Arc

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Kanan healing his relationship with clones was one of the best parts of his character development in Rebels, but The Bad Batch undermined it.

His traumatic experience with Order 66 understandably left Kanan scarred for years, and one of the biggest signs of those wounds was his attitude toward clone troopers. When the Ghost crew found Rex, Wolffe, and Gregor, Kanan was very vocal about how much he distrusted them and how much he blamed them for Order 66. It was only after the clones proved they were forced into complying by their behavioral chips and Rex proved clones could freely choose to be good by risking his own life that Kanan finally began to trust clones again.

Kanan healing his relationship with clones was one of the best parts of his character development in Rebels, but The Bad Batch undermined it. His initial distrust of all clones is much less justified, because Clone Force 99 clearly tried to help him at the time. The retcon turns what was Kanan's journey to overcome the greatest trauma of his life, and the very necessary assumptions he made to survive, into simply clearing up a misunderstanding. The Bad Batch has done quite a bit of good for Star Wars canon, but its changes to Kanan's story in Rebels were not an improvement.

Source: just_jayd3n_