Before turning to the currently releasing third season of Star Wars: The Bad Batch, Hyperspace Theories podcast returns to the concluding episodes of Season Two. Having previously analyzed the first ten episodes, Tricia Barr and B.J. Priester discuss episodes 11 through 16, starting with “Metamorphosis” and “The Outpost” and ending with Tech’s (apparent) self-sacrifice by implementing the tragic “Plan 99” during the squad’s fateful mission to Tarkin’s base on Eriadu. On the theme of metamorphosis and transformation, we consider the introduction of Doctor Hemlock as the Batch’s new primary antagonist, the significance of Crosshair’s realization that the clones are expendable to the Empire, how the Batch’s experience on Pabu provides a new perspective for their understanding of their place in a changing galaxy, and the increasing stakes for the Bad Batch and all of the clones as the threat posed by Hemlock becomes clearer. We also examine the visual symbolism throughout these episodes, particularly the significance of water and Crosshair’s ice vulture, as well as the themes presented in the sometimes conflicting motivations of the Bad Batch, Rex and Echo, Saw Gerrera, and within the Empire itself.

Related Links:

• Hyperspace Theories: The Separatists in The Bad Batch (Jan. 2023)
• Hyperspace Theories: Story Structure and Character Development in The Bad Batch Season Two (Feb. 2023)
• Hyperspace Theories: Facing Ordeals in The Bad Batch (Feb. 2023)

Hyperspace Theories kicks off 2024 with a new episode analyzing recent developments that appear to chart a new course for the future of Star Wars. Tricia Barr and B.J. Priester begin with the November 2023 news, first revealed in a Vanity Fair article by longtime Star Wars and entertainment journalist Anthony Breznican, that Dave Filoni has been promoted to the position of Chief Creative Officer at Lucasfilm. We discuss what a CCO role entails and how Filoni’s position compares to other CCO roles within The Walt Disney Company overall. Filoni also now holds the title of Executive Vice President, a rank he shares with three women in Lucasfilm’s leadership team, including his trusted producer Carrie Beck.

We then discuss Lucasfilm’s press release from January 9, 2024, announcing that the first new theatrical Star Wars project into production is not one of the three films mentioned by Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy at Star Wars Celebration Europe in April 2023, but rather The Mandalorian & Grogu directed by Jon Favreau. We examine the carefully worded press release and consider what it reveals about a fourth season of The Mandalorian and a second season of Ahsoka as Disney+ streaming series.

We conclude with several implications from the upcoming Season Three of The Bad Batch animated series, particularly the surprise appearance of fan-favorite antagonist Asajj Ventress from The Clone Wars.

Related Links:

• Now Filoni is the Master (Nov. 2023)
• Star Wars Undertakes Universe-Shaking Changes After Ahsoka (Vanity Fair; Nov. 2023)
• The Mandalorian & Grogu Journeys to the Big Screen (StarWars.com; Jan. 9, 2024)
• Lessons in Franchise Management – MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios (Jan. 14, 2024)
• Watch the Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 3 Trailer (StarWars.com; Jan. 22, 2024)

The epilogue montage of the recently concluded Ahsoka series on Disney+ included a surprising and exciting image: former Jedi turned antagonist Baylan Skoll standing amid colossal statues of the Father, Son, and (partially destroyed) Daughter of Mortis. These mysterious and powerful “Force Wielders” have a long connection to Ahsoka mastermind Dave Filoni: they interacted with Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano, and Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Mortis trilogy (2011) in the third season of The Clone Wars animated series, for which Filoni served as supervising director under George Lucas, and then appeared as Jedi temple iconography in the penultimate duology (2018) of the Star Wars Rebels animated series, which was co-created and overseen by Filoni. As his segment of the montage ends, Baylan gazes upon a mountain range with a distant hovering light, a visual that closely resembles the Father’s monastery on Mortis.

While this brief glimpse only hints at possible implications for future stories involving Baylan, Ahsoka, and other characters from the Ahsoka series, the reappearance of Mortis imagery provides the perfect opportunity to delve further into a topic we’ve long wanted to talk about on Hyperspace Theories. In this episode, Tricia Barr and B.J. Priester discuss the Mortis trilogy from The Clone Wars and the symbolic, thematic, and philosophical ideas about Star Wars that Lucas used these episodes to explore – and that Filoni drew upon in multiple ways during the Ahsoka series. Tricia elaborates how the Mortis trilogy as a whole, and the choices and fates of the Force Wielders in particular, serve as an allegory for the causes of the fall of the Jedi Order during the Prequel Trilogy. We also examine, at the character level, the ways in which the Mortis trilogy represents Anakin’s fate – and Ahsoka’s future.

Related Links:

• Metaphors of Mortis (Feb. 10, 2011)
• Hyperspace Theories: Masters, Apprentices, and Witches in AHSOKA Premiere (Aug. 26)
• Hyperspace Theories: Anakin and Ahsoka Reunite (Sort Of) in AHSOKA’s Belly of the Whale (Oct. 8)
• Hyperspace Theories: AHSOKA Tackles the Jedi, the Force, and the Future of Star Wars (Oct. 16)
• Now Filoni is the Master (Nov. 24)
• Adam Driver Confirms The Rise of Skywalker Changed Kylo Ren’s Character Arc (Dec. 14)