When she first joined the franchise in Season One of the first-ever live-action Star Wars television series, The Mandalorian, Ming-Na Wen’s bounty hunter Fennec Shand has become an instant favorite among fans. People were glad to see her return in Season 2, and are definitely excited to hear that Fennec will be back for the new live-action series The Book Of Boba Fett (which is a spinoff of The Mandalorian). It turns out that we may not even need to wait that long to spend time with one of our new favorite bounty hunters!
During the recent Disney Investors Day presentation, an all-new Star Wars animated series was announced called Star Wars: The Bad Batch. This new series is a spinoff and a sequel to Star Wars: The Clone Wars and follows Clone Force 99, better known as the Bad Batch, a squadron of unique Clone Troopers that are genetically modified and different from standard Clones. Each member of The Bad Batch has their own special abilities that set them apart and give them unique advantages on the battlefield.
The Bad Batch first appeared in the final season of The Clone Wars. This series is set to pick up on the aftermath of those events; giving fans the story of this elite Clone squadron as they try to find their new place in the galaxy now that the war has ended.
When the series was announced, a sizzle reel was shown to give people a taste of what they can expect from the new animated show. While much of the content in the sizzle reel was about what people expected from it, one single shot stood out like a sore thumb. Did we just see Fennec Shand? It turns out we did!
Actress Ming-Na-Wen recently confirmed that she will in fact be returning to voice Fennec Shand in this new Clone Wars spinoff. She has apparently known about her involvement with the series for quite some time but had to keep it to herself until the show was announced. In a recent interview with StarWars.com, Wen described her frustration with not being able to talk about the show, saying:
Do you know how long I’ve had to keep silent about Fennec coming back?” Wen joked with StarWars.com. “This is the first time I’ve been able to talk about it!
Even after the show was announced and her character was teased, Bad Batch and The Mandalorian series producer Dave Filoni discouraged Wen from confirming her involvement with the show. Wen kept in good spirits though, pointing out a major flaw in his logic by saying:
Dave, if you wanted to keep it a secret you shouldn’t have put me in the trailer!
To be fair, the sheer size of the Star Wars franchise is quite massive and with these stories taking place in completely separate corners of the galaxy and the timeline, it is entirely possible that Disney and Lucasfilm could have just recast the role for this animated series. After all, The Bad Batch will be taking place quite sometime before The Mandalorian is set, so we are dealing with a much younger Fennec Shand than we are used to. Wen just seems to be excited to continue playing that character:
Everybody is saying they just want the confirmation. So, yes, it is Fennec! It’s a younger Fennec and she is voiced by me and I’m thrilled and beyond happy that Dave wanted to create more of a backstory for her.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch is coming from Clone Wars executive producer Dave Filoni, who is also executive producing this series along with Brad Rau, Jennifer Corbett, Carrie Beck, and Athena Portillo. Brad Rau is also serving as supervising director, while Jennifer Corbett is the head writer for the series. Star Wars: The Bad Batch is set to premiere on Disney+ in 2021.
Are you excited for even more Fennec Shand? What are you hoping to learn about the character in this new series? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below and stick around Geek Anything for all of the latest Star Wars news!
