May 3rd, 2021 
Jackson Murphy 
Star Wars opened 44 years ago this month. Nearly half a century later, the phenomenon is bigger than ever. The latest addition to the franchise: new animated series Star Wars: The Bad Batch. It premieres tomorrow (May the 4th) on Disney+. Producer and head writer Jennifer Corbett and producer Brad Rau take me on a brief trip to a galaxy far, far away.
Jackson Murphy: The series begins with a 72-minute episode, which is rare in television, especially in animation. Why did you decide to open with a 72-minute episode?
Jennifer Corbett: I think it was more about the content that we were diving into and we didn’t wanna rush it. We talk about Order 66 and the aftermath that happens with this pivotal event in Star Wars and we just sort of let the story run its course. And luckily LucasFilm and Disney+ were very supportive of having 70-minutes+ to tell that story. I’m glad we got that opportunity.
JM: Yeah. What goes into outlining a season of an animated series like this, especially starting out with almost a feature-length first episode?
Brad Rau: Oh, so much. And that’s what’s so cool about our show. Jen as head writer and me as supervising director: we just talk all the time… constantly… non-stop… to make sure we’re always figuring this stuff out. And we work closely with Dave Filoni in the inception of our ideas and in critical points during the production. It’s a massive loaded question. We don’t take it lightly. We talk about it all the time – constantly outline things and beef them up. It’s kind of like what Jen was saying about letting the story go where it needs to go. We know where we wanna go, but we also let our characters breathe life into the story. So it’s a really interesting process as we go through our season.
JM: And what were some of your overall goals heading into this brand new series?
JC: I loved being able to continue the story of these soldiers. What drew me in with this show was also the time period because I always found it fascinating that the Clone Troopers were created and trained from birth to be soldiers. What that means for them when the war comes to an end and all of a sudden that identity changes and how they move forward and where they find their place in this new galaxy… that’s something I was so excited to be able to dive into, especially through the eyes of the Bad Batch, who have never really fit in anywhere. (laughs)
JM: But now they get their own show! Here they are! Do you find that because the fandom is so huge, and with the success of The Mandalorian and all the previous animated installments, do you feel that it’s an opportunity or a challenge or a little bit of both to really please all the fans?
BR: I would say an opportunity. As massive fans ourselves, we’re trying to make a show that we like – that we hope that the fans like as well. The fans are so good. The fans are so interesting because everyone takes something a little bit different from Star Wars. The Star Wars fandom at its best is this massive thing – people from so many different backgrounds and different points of view that can enjoy these adventures that usually have a moral center to them. When we attack our stories, we always think of the fans. But kind of terms of what we want to see because we’re big fans as well.
JM: Sure. As I watched the first two episodes, there’s a contrast between the nighttime scenes and the snowy open, which is very effective, and the brighter daytime scenes. Can you talk a little bit about that in terms of the look and the animation?
JC: It always comes down to the mood that we’re trying to set. And especially in the Pilot episode. I love… having this snowy haze backdrop. One of my favorite moments is when Caleb ignites his lightsaber and the snow is in the background. But you can see it through his face and it kind of just matches what he’s feeling in that moment. That is the writer aspect.
BR: That is the key of why our show works when it works well. It is a collaboration. It’s not just scripts are happening over here and animation is happening over here. We’re constantly trying to figure out ‘What are those shots we want?’ We even talk about it in the writers’ conference: ‘These are the shots we wanna get.’ Sometimes something like Caleb igniting his lightsaber – what the lighting is we want there backed into that whole sequence… just for that shot because it’s so cool… we do that a lot on the show. We’re constantly trying to figure out how we can get the mood and the tone to be portrayed in the lighting, acting and animation.
JM: I interviewed Kevin Kiner for Clone Wars, and I’m so glad he won an Annie Award a couple weeks ago for his work. How is it having Kevin involved on this show?
BR: It’s so fantastic. Kevin Kiner’s the best. And his sons Sean and Dean are such a big part of the team. We have a blast getting to spot episodes with them. Half the time we’re just shooting the breeze and having fun. They’re so good at being able to do something. I’ll give you an example of something really interesting that we workshop constantly on the music side: seeing the Clone Troopers now as the bad guys is a really interesting thing, and they’re not Stormtroopers and they’re not the full blown Empire. But what would it be like if we took Republic sounding musical cues and we played them a little differently? Kevin is such a genius in saying, “Oh, we can use this other instrument, play the same cue in a slightly different key and suddenly it sounds villainous.” Wow. Incredible. We’re always digging into stuff like that and he’s the master. He’s so great.
JM: And with this premiering on May the 4th, what has May the 4th always meant to you?
JC: Gosh. A galaxy of possibilities. (laughs) Top that, Brad!
JM: Yeah! What do you got, Brad?
BR: Wow, that’s a good one. It is that though, really. We were talking about the fandom. I think that’s the beautiful side of this. We’re having fun telling these stories but seeing the fans embrace this galaxy – and hopefully they embrace our show in the same way – is a beautiful thing. It’s a tough world out there to have something that people can come together to enjoy. It’s a big deal. That’s Star Wars at its core, for sure.
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