Captain Rex’s Star Wars Return Can Finally Solve A Rebels Mystery

The second trailer for Star Wars: The Bad Batch has confirmed that Captain Rex will appear in the show, and his return could finally explain how he was reunited with Commander Wolffe and Captain Gregor prior to Star Wars Rebels. Previously, it was unclear which characters would be returning from Star Wars: The Clone Wars, but now that it is clear that Clone Force 99 will be on the run from the newly created Empire, it can be assumed that their adventures will cross paths with other former members of the Grand Army of the Republic. This could very likely lead them to Rex, Wolffe, and Gregor, and reveal whether or not the clones disobeyed Order 66.

This lingering plot was left unexplained after being introduced in Star Wars Rebels season 2, when the Spectres, sent by Ahsoka Tano, located Captain Rex on the planet Seelos. Although the circumstances of their meeting were never explained in canon, Rex was living with Wolffe and Gregor and revealed to Ezra Bridger that he and his brothers had removed their inhibitor chips, choosing not to betray their Jedi. However, Star Wars: The Clone Wars season 7 revealed that Rex’s statement was not entirely honest, as even after much hesitation he still opened fire on Ahsoka. Ahsoka managed to capture Rex and remove his chip, allowing the two of them to escape from the rest of the clones, but no such details exist in canon for how Gregor and Wolffe managed to learn of their own chips’ existence.

Now that Rex’s journey after the calamity of Order 66 and the Jedi Purge will be continued in The Bad Batch, he may be the one to intervene in his fellow clone’s programming. As depicted in the trailer, The Bad Batch will follow the immediate aftermath of Order 66, and Moff Tarkin’s mission to have Clone Force 99 hunted down. After their escape from Kamino, the Bad Batch will likely meet up with other clones that deserted or disobeyed the order, including Captain Rex. With Rex being clearly depicted in the trailer, it’s reasonable to think that his journey to connect with Gregor and Wolffe might also be depicted. Additionally, if the two are introduced in the series, Rex could in fact be the individual that alerts them to the presence of the inhibitor chips and conceives a method to remove them before they come across any Jedi.

Wolffe was last seen aiding Plo Koon in Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 6 on Oba Diah while recovering the shuttle of Sifo-Dyas. Sometime between that mission and Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, Plo Koon was separated from the 104th, leaving Wolffe’s whereabouts unknown. Additionally, before his return in Rebels, Gregor was last seen on the planet Abafar, covering the escape of R2-D2’s undercover droid unit after experiencing amnesia. How he managed to escape death was unknown, so the circumstances of how these troopers cross paths would be an important arc to explore in the series. It appears that the Bad Batch could utilize Rex’s extensive knowledge of the galaxy to help the team navigate a path to safety, bringing them in contact with many other characters returning from Star Wars: The Clone Wars, such as Saw Gerrera, 

Although Rex’s Rebels-era statement to Ezra was proven untrue in Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 7, there’s reason to believe that Wolffe and Gregor did not participate in the Jedi Purge. According to Canon, Wolffe wasn’t present during the death of his own Jedi general, Plo Koon, who was instead deployed with the 442nd Siege Battalion to Cato Neimoidia, where he was assassinated by Captain Jag. Likewise, despite being a former Commando, Gregor was assumed dead after his encounter on Abafar. Even though he survived, it is unlikely he ever made it back to the Republic, meaning he very likely wouldn’t have been near any Jedi to kill. It’s possible that Rex, with the aid of the Bad Batch, manages to locate both the clones in the Outer Rim before they cross paths with any Jedi, and convinces them to remove their chips, bringing a satisfying resolution to the lingering plotline in The Bad Batch.

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