Star Wars: The Bad Batch's Michelle Ang on Season 3's Darker Tone and Surprising Premiere Episode

Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 3 debuted this week on Disney+ with the first three episodes of the Star Wars animated series' final season, which were darker in tone. Up until now, Star Wars: The Bad Batch – which some consider to be the last Star Wars project with George Lucas' influence – has been about Clone Force 99 keeping themselves and the young clone Omega outside of the Empire's reach. That changed in Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 2's finale, when the Empire captured Omega and took her to Mount Tantiss, where Chief Scientist Royce Hemlock leads experiments related to M-count and Project Necromancer.

That turn of events has resulted in Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 3 having a somewhat more serious tone. The season opener is a muted episode that looks at Omega's repressed existence within the halls of Mount Tantiss, a far cry from the high adventure that characterized most episodes of Star Wars: The Bad Batch prior. ComicBook.com spoke to Michelle Ang, who voices Omega, ahead of the Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 3 premiere. In addition to expressing a bittersweet sentiment about Omega's story ending, she discussed Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 3's unorthodox season premiere episode.

"Whenever I get a script, it becomes my sort of manuscript, my touchstone," Ang explains. "It doesn't work well for me to look too far forward or too reflective. I have to know where I have come from emotionally. But really, the scripts are so well done and so thoughtful that that becomes what I lean on for performance. But I was relieved that we were starting that way because Season 2 ended so intensely. I think it would have been horrible to just have launched into some sort of like business as usual mission in Season 3. And I will say I had a lot of fun because I feel like season three is a lot darker. It's more dangerous. There's a quality to it that feels more thriller but still exciting. There's a lot more tension because, I guess in honesty, the stakes are higher."

Ang continued talking about the darker tone of Star Wars: The Bad Batch's final season. Like many good modern adventure cartoons, she thinks Star Wars: The Bad Batch may have aged up with its target audience.

"There's medical testing on living beings happening," she says. "It's dark. It's dark. But, you know, maybe that's also clever for the creators because for some of the younger – The Bad Batch is accessible for all kinds of people. I think that's the cool thing about it. But for some of the people who chose to bring in younger viewers or younger family members to watch it from Season 1, perhaps,  three years in, they are now ready to have this sort of content. Maybe that's why, too. But it did have a different flavor. I'm so glad that you picked up on it because I definitely picked up on it as a performer, and it took us to different places."

What is Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 3 about?

Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 3 picks up where Season 2 left off. The Bad Batch is still reeling from losing one of their members, Tech, and determined to rescue Omega from capture at Mount Tantiss.

According to Disney+, in Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 3, "the Batch will have their limits tested in the fight to reunite with Omega as she faces challenges of her own inside a remote Imperial science lab. With the group fractured and facing threats from all directions, they will have to seek out unexpected allies, embark on dangerous missions, and muster everything they have learned to free themselves from the Empire."

Who is in the Star Wars: The Bad Batch cast?

Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 3 stars Dee Bradley Baker (American Dad!) as the voice of every Bad Batch member and Michelle Ang (Fear the Walking Dead: Flight 462) as Omega. The cast also includes Keisha Castle-Hughes (Whale Rider), Jimmi Simpson (Westworld), Noshir Dalal (It's Pony), and Wanda Sykes (The Upshaws). 

Star Wars: The Bad Batch is executive produced by Dave Filoni (Ahsoka, The Mandalorian), Athena Portillo (Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels), Brad Rau (Star Wars Rebels, Star Wars Resistance), Jennifer Corbett (Star Wars Resistance, NCIS) and Carrie Beck (Ahsoka, The Mandalorian), with Josh Rimes (Star Wars Resistance, Star Wars: Visions) as co-executive producer and Alex Spotswood (Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels) as senior producer. Rau is also the supervising director, with Corbett as the head writer.    

Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 3 debuted its first three episodes on Wednesday, February 21st, on Disney+. Here's the entire Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 3 episode release schedule:

Season 3 Episode Schedule: 

• ·  2/21:  Episode 301 "Confined," Episode 302 "Paths Unknown," Episode 303 "Shadows of Tantiss" (debut)
• ·  2/28:  Episode 304 "A Different Approach"
• ·  3/6:    Episode 305 "The Return"
• ·  3/13:  Episode 306 "Infiltration" & Episode 307 "Extraction"
• ·  3/20:  Episode 308 "Bad Territory"
• ·  3/27:  Episode 309 "The Harbinger"
• ·  4/3:    Episode 310 "Identity Crisis" & Episode 311 "Point of No Return"
• ·  4/10:  Episode 312 "Juggernaut"
• ·  4/17:  Episode 313 "Into the Breach"
• ·  4/24:  Episode 314 "Flash Strike"
• ·  5/1:    Episode 315 "The Cavalry Has Arrived" (finale)