Clone Wars: What Happened To Echo (& How He Could Be Alive)

The new season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars on Disney+ kicks off with “Bad Batch,” where Captain Rex becomes suspicious that the separatists are getting his battle plans from a long presumed dead clone trooper, Echo. Now that The Clone Wars is returning for season 7, a number of major storylines from the first 6 seasons can finally be resolved, and some of the biggest opportunities are the clones themselves.

Captain Rex, Wolffe, and Gregor all had their story continue into Star Wars: Rebels (and beyond), but many others, including Echo, ended when The Clone Wars was canceled after Disney acquired Lucasfilm. Echo himself is a unique case, though, because in the story told through season 6, echo was presumed dead, and there was no reason presented to presume otherwise until the story of “Bad Batch” (although, to be fair, the “Bad Batch” story has already been known for around five years, as it was released as an incomplete story reel in 2015).

CT-1409, the clone trooper who would be given the name “Echo” because of his penchant for repeating orders trained as a part of “Domino Squad” on Kamino before they were commissioned to fight in the clone wars. On their first assignment, Domino Squad manned an outpost intended to protect Kamino from an attack. When the station was attacked, the squad was able to warn the Republic of an impending Separatist assault on Kamino, but only Echo and one other squadmate, Fives, survived the operation.

Echo and Fives joined the 501st Legion under the command of Captain Rex and were quickly promoted to ARC Troopers. They worked closely with Rex and Anakin Skywalker throughout much of the war, but each befell a tragic end. During an assault on The Citadel to rescue Jedi Master Even Piell and Captain Tarkin in The Clone Wars season 3, Echo was guarding an escape shuttle that came under fire and was destroyed, appearing to kill Echo. Fives would live on a few more seasons, and was actually the clone who discovered the existence of the Order 66 conspiracy to turn all the clones on the Jedi, but he was killed before he was able to convince anyone of the danger.

RELATED: Clone Wars Season 7 Voice Cast & Character Guide

In “Bad Batch,” Captain Rex begins to have suspicions that Echo wasn’t dead after all. During a long campaign on Anaxes, the tide of the battle starts to shift as droids become uncommonly adept at countering clone tactics. The strategies employed were developed by Rex and Echo, so the separatist’s seemingly adept ability to predict and counter them make Rex suspicious that Echo is alive and a prisoner of the Separatists.

With the help of the elite Clone Force 99, the Bad Batch, Rex traces a mysterious Separatist signal to an outpost where the broadcast is decoded to reveal Echo’s voice relaying information including his designation, CT-1409. The signal is coming from another planet, so Rex and Clone Force 99 will need to do some traveling to track Echo down, although fans who have watched the story reels will likely already know the ending, presuming the story stays as close to the original as “Bad Batch” did.

About The Author

Stephen M. Colbert
(627 Articles Published)

Stephen has been writing for the site since 2016 and enjoys all manner of movies and TV, especially when it gives reason to obsess over minor irrelevant continuity minutiae.

Stephen has been infatuated with movie magic on screen and off since wearing out his VHS copy of The Making of Star Wars when he was 7. This passion continues in his work as a film journalist, whether it’s hunting down breadcrumbs about the Snyder Cut, breaking down box office trends, or obsessing over Rotten Tomatoes data, Stephen lives in the minutiae, as listeners of his podcast, Batman v Superman: By the Minute (with fellow-Screen Rant editor Andrew Dyce) know all too well.

See also  Married At First Sight: Erik & Virginia's Divorce Settlement Signed

When he’s not writing on the site, Stephen can be found obsessing over vintage camera lenses, chasing his tiny children around, or getting himself into trouble on Twitter @smcolbert.

Yes, that’s his real name.

More From Stephen M. Colbert