Return Of The Zillo Beast: How Clone Wars' 14-Year-Old Godzilla Became Key To Bad Batch Season 3

Warning! This article contains spoilers for Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 3, episode 14.

Summary The Zillo Beast makes a dramatic return in Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 3, adding an unexpected twist to the storyline.

The Empire has been experimenting on the Zillo Beast for reasons beyond Project Necromancer, hinting at potentially sinister plans involving Dark Troopers.

Omega's plan to free the Zillo Beast in the season 3 finale of The Bad Batch may provide an escape route for the show's characters, causing chaos.

Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 3, episode 14 brought back the Zillo Beast, The Clone Wars' Godzilla monster, in an integral role. The Zillo Beast was first introduced during the timeline of Star Wars: The Clone Wars as a giant creature that almost destroyed Coruscant. Emperor Palpatine, seeing the Zillo Beast's advantages against the Jedi, kept the creature before it made another appearance in Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 2.

Despite not linking to Star Wars' Project Necromancer like the other captives at Mount Tantiss, the Zillo Beast has been kept at the top-secret facility for a while. In Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 3, episode 14, the Zillo Beast returned. In a way that could potentially tie into future Star Wars TV shows chronologically, Omega found the Zillo Beast when exploring the Mount Tantiss facility. This proves that the creature will have an integral role going into Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 3's finale.

Related Star Wars' Zillo Beast Return Continues A Palpatine Clone Wars Plan Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 2, episode 11 sees the return of the Zillo Beast and a Palpatine plan associated with it from The Clone Wars.

The Zillo Beast Has Already Returned In The Bad Batch Season 2

The Zillo Beast's Bad Batch season 3 appearance is not the creature's first since The Clone Wars.

As alluded to, the Zillo Beast returned to Star Wars in The Bad Batch season 2. In this episode - specifically The Bad Batch season 2, episode 11 - Clone Force 99 is sent by Cid to retrieve top-secret cargo bound for Tantiss. They discover that the cargo in question is a smaller Zillo Beast, one that was cloned from the original beast captured in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. The episode sees the smaller Zillo Beast slowly grow in size before being captured once again by the Empire and escorted to Tantiss.

Zillo Beast Appearances In The Clone Wars Episode Name Season 2, Episode 18 "The Zillo Beast" Season 2, Episode 19 "The Zillo Beast Strikes Back"

Many assumed that this story was simply a one-off episode. After all, the Zillo Beast has shown to have few useful properties regarding cloning Emperor Palpatine, meaning many assumed it would be utilized for other stories. That said, The Bad Batch season 3, episode 14 brought back the Zillo Beast for the first time since season 2, hinting that the destructive creature may have a more integral role in the ending of the show than first thought.

Why The Empire Is Experimenting On The Zillo Beast

The Zillo Beast may not be useful for Project Necromancer, but it has other properties the Empire could find useful.

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Despite Project Necromancer being the primary objective of science facilities like Mount Tantiss, the compound is used to concoct many secrets for the Empire removed from Palpatine's revival. The Zillo Beast likely ties to these other experiments, with several hints from Star Wars' many movies and TV shows potentially explaining why the Empire needs the creature. As far as wider Star Wars canon goes, there are two possibilities behind the Empire's usage of the Zillo Beast.

The first possibility is the idea that Hemlock is using the Zillo Beast to create lightsaber-resistant armor, something that links to The Mandalorian's Dark Troopers. At one point in The Bad Batch, armor similar to that worn by Dark Troopers was spotted on Hemlock's datapad. This could hint that the Zillo Beast, which was shown in The Clone Wars to withstand Jedi lightsabers, is being experimented on to see if this trait can be used for Imperial armor. This could have then spiraled into the creation of Dark Troopers, though with some alterations.

The Mandalorian's season 2 finale proved the Empire did not succeed if these experiments happened, as Luke Skywalker's lightsaber defeated the Dark Troopers.

The second reason why the Empire is experimenting on Zillo Beasts could simply link to stand-casts. Strand-casts have been integral to Star Wars cloning since the concept was explored via Project Necromancer. While it is clear Project Necromancer does not overtly involve the Zillo Beast, The Mandalorian season 3, episode 3 confirmed that strand-casts can consist of multiple different DNA samples. The Zillo Beast's DNA was likely part of these experiments given the overwhelming physical durability of the creature.

Omega's Zillo Beast Plan Explained

How does the Zillo Beast tie into Omega's The Bad Batch season 3 story?

Apart from the admittedly unclear reasons it is being experimented on, the Zillo Beast will have an integral role in the finale of Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 3. At the end of episode 14, Omega finds Mount Tantiss and finds the Zillo Beast's holding cell. She returns to the other children who have been captured by Hemlock as part of Project Necromancer and tells them that she "found something big" and that she will need their help in order to escape. This implies that Omega plans to set the Zillo Beast free.

The season finale of Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 3 - "The Cavalry Has Arrived" - will release on Disney+ at 12:00 am PT, 03:00 am ET, and 08:00 am BST on May 1.

After The Bad Batch season 2, Omega knows how to make the Zillo Beast grow in size, as well as how to make it angry. If she, and the other Force-sensitive younglings, can unleash the Zillo Beast, they can use it as cover to escape. A Zillo Beast rampage will undoubtedly cause chaos in the Tantiss facility, giving Omega, the children, the other imprisoned clones, and the Bad Batch time to flee. It seems that this will be featured in Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 3's finale, making the Zillo Beast vital to the show's final installment.