A Zillo Beast wreaked havoc on Coruscant in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, but another may appear in Star Wars: The Bad Batch. The Zillo Beast is a gargantuan reptilian monster introduced in season 2 of The Clone Wars. Although the monster died at the end of its two-part story arc, another potential Zillo Beast story was set up but ultimately remains unresolved. The Bad Batch season 2 provides a perfect opportunity to follow up on Palpatine’s Zillo Beast schemes from The Clone Wars.

The Zillo Beast was featured in a two-episode story arc in The Clone Wars season 2, where it was revealed to not only be far more intelligent than it seems but to also have an armored hide that’s invulnerable to lightsaber blades. This, combined with the beast’s particular hostility towards Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, revealed that the creature had a heightened degree of connection to the Force. The Zillo Beast was perceptive enough to see Palpatine’s dark side power, something that the greatest members of the Jedi Order were blind to.

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Palpatine ordered that the monster be captured and brought to Coruscant for further study, but the Zillo Beast inevitably escaped, killing numerous civilians and Clone Troopers. Clone Pilots deployed a poison gas that killed the creature, but the arc ends with Palpatine commissioning a clone of the Zillo Beast. Palpatine’s Zillo Beast clone has yet to show up in the Star Wars franchise, but The Bad Batch season 2 has the story opportunity, timeline placement, and budget to properly include The Emperor’s monster.

The Zillo Beast clone was considered for an appearance in Star Wars Rebels, but ultimately never appeared. According to Dave Filoni, the Zillo Beast’s sheer scale was too great for Rebels, which was a much smaller series than The Clone Wars. Moreover, the Ghost crew and fledgling Rebel Alliance wouldn’t have the means to defeat such a creature, and the Galactic Empire would want to use it for their own sinister purposes.

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The Bad Batch is in the perfect position to introduce Palpatine’s Zillo Beast clone, however. The series is set in the earliest days of the Galactic Empire, with an increasing number of Clone Troopers turning against the new regime as the mind control effects of their implants wear off and potentially being a strong enough force to kill the creature. The series also reintroduced the Legends-era Mount Tantiss, an Imperial cloning center that would be the perfect laboratory for the monster’s origin point. Furthermore, The Bad Batch has the same animation style and scale as The Clone Wars, making it a far better place to include the Zillo Beast than Rebels.

In addition to potentially having a gargantuan monster to use against his enemies, Emperor Palpatine would likely also use the Zillo Beast’s hide as a powerful armor for troops and vehicles. If the titular Bad Batch journeys to Mount Tantiss, they could encounter Palpatine’s Zillo Beast clone and perhaps defeat it (or free it) with the help of other Clones who deserted the Empire. Whichever way the story handles it, Star Wars: The Bad Batch would resolve a Star Wars: The Clone Wars storyline by finally showing what became of Palpatine’s cloned Zillo Beast.

Key Release Dates
  • Rogue Squadron (2023)Release date: Dec 22, 2023
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David Miller
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David Miller is a staff writer for Screen Rant, indie comic writer, and life-long lover of all things Star Wars, Marvel, and DC. He was born and raised in New York and has a degree in English from Rider University. He relates to Peter Parker maybe a little too much.

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