Star Wars: The Bad Batch’s Michelle Ang Comments on Playing Adult Omega and a Darker Season 2 (Excluive)

Star Wars: The Bad Batch returns this week for its second season on Disney+, and some time has passed since the first season’s finale. The former members of Clone Force 99 are a little more weathered, including Omega, the young clone they rescued from Kamino (which shows their new looks). There’s a time jump between Bad Batch season, and Omega has done some growing up in that interim. Omega’s growth also affects which members of the Bad Batch she’s bonding with this season. After spending Season 1 primarily with the protective Hunter and almost childlike Wrecker, she’s seen in Season 2 with the more complicated Tech and Echo this season. Michelle Ang, who voices Omega, tells ComicBook.com about the character’s growth and building these relationships.

“There’s a time jump between Season 1 left off and where season two begins, and Omega’s shed off some of her childlike wonder,” Ang says. “We’re moving a little bit into adolescence. We’re moving into a space where Omega wants to have her views heard, wants to have a voice, and I think what’s interesting is she’s very much secure in her place in the Bad Batch. Season 1 meant that sometimes she wasn’t sure if she was allowed to be considered as part of the squad but I think in Season 2, right from the jump, you get the impression, you see that Omega is very comfortable and the Batch absolutely value her and she has her own merits and her own skills that she adds to the squad.”

Ang goes on to say that the tone of the new season matches this older and slightly more mature Omega as the show grows along with the character. “I have to say, I think Season 2 is a little bit darker,” she says. “We go into emotional territory that is more appropriate, I think, for an adolescent, she’s viewing the world, not through the wonder of the physical experience, but really starting to think a little bit about what’s right and wrong, how communities are set up fairly or perhaps unfairly. She’s exposed to politics. She’s not shielded from that as much anymore and she’s living firsthand through her interactions with the people that she meets on the journey of Season 2. It’s a piecing together of the world from a more mature viewpoint.”

Along with that is the shift in which Bad Batch members spend the most time with Omega. Where Hunter and Wreckers emphasized Omega as an innocent child, her bonding with Echo and Tech speaks to her exposure to more complex issues.

“I mean, yes, you totally hit the nail on the head. The Hunter relationship was primary in Season 1, and also Wrecker, but just because they sort of share a similar childlike worldview,” Ang explains. “I really enjoyed drilling into the specificities of the relationships with her other brothers in Season 2, and I think I’ve got a soft spot for how Omega and Tech interact. I think Tech’s natural personality is not the most parental, and Omega doesn’t have an issue with that, but what she brings out in him and the way that he strives to teach her in his own way is quite endearing. They have a really nice arc in Season 2 and I think Tech is responsible for a lot of Omega’s schooling and education in Season 2.” 

The Star Wars universe is vast, and its stories span generations. Fans have watched young movies grow into seasoned heroes. We had to wonder if Ang had considered the possibility of playing Omega as an adult at some point.

“The true answer is absolutely I would love to go on that journey of Omega but I would also have to say that I don’t want her to grow up too fast. Season 1 to 2 was a big jump, it was a good jump, but the journey that she is on as an adolescent and as a dawning identity of who she is, but also who clowns are how the Bad Batch and her brothers fit into how the Empire and the world view clones, I don’t want to rush that. I think that’s incredibly juicy and exciting. Maybe this is a bit fatalistic of me; I think as everyone grows into adulthood, there’s a certain element of jadedness and I think Omega’s superpower, at least at this point, is the fact that she isn’t, so she has really novel ways to view quite adult themes and that’s been a joy. I think that’s a nice voice for Omega currently, and then Star Wars world, so I wouldn’t want her to lose that too fast.”

Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 2 premieres on Disney+ on January 4th. The Bad Batch‘s first season is streaming now.