Commander Cody May Be Used In 'The Bad Batch' Through An Unused Storyline From 'Rebels'
Star Wars fans are now just a couple of months away from the series premiere of The Clone Wars spin-off Star Wars: The Bad Batch, a 3D-animated series which premieres May the 4th on Disney+ and takes place around the time that the Galactic Republic becomes the Galactic Empire. Based on the marketing that has been presented for the fanbase, the show promises to bring back familiar faces such as Wilhuff Tarkin and The Mandalorian's Fennec Shand. There are various familiar faces that could pop up in this time period, and one such possibility is Commander Cody.
People who have only seen the films may remember that Commander Cody is the clone trooper who serves with Obi-Wan Kenobi on Utapau in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith and ends up having to execute Order 66. Of course, the Jedi does not end up as dead as they conclude. The Clone Wars shows more of Cody serving with Obi-Wan and having bonds with other clones such as Captain Rex, who, along with other clone troopers Gregor and Wolffe, ends up in Star Wars Rebels, claiming that they have not executed Order 66. However, the team behind Rebels at some point considered including Commander Cody.
In the scrapped storyline, Grand Admiral Thrawn would have honed in on the fact that the rebels are being aided by former clone troopers who have more free will. While doing research on the clone troopers, Thrawn would have brought in Commander Cody, who presumably would have had less free will with his inhibitor chip still intact. Cody would have had to face the rebels, and possibly his own brothers. For whatever reason, this storyline never came to fruition.
While Thrawn is not yet working for the Empire around the time that The Bad Batch begins. In fact, he does not join the Empire in canon until at least a few years afterward. The Bad Batch would have to have multiple seasons and/or a timeskip before Thrawn encounters the Empire and joins it. However, there are still elements of the scrapped storyline that could be retrofitted for this TV show. For one, it seems like the Bad Batch could end up having more free will than most of the other clones. Perhaps the Empire would have reason to hunt down such free-thinking clone troopers, and therefore need to call upon various clone commanders to go after the Bad Batch, Cody being a prominent commander.
If the recent rumors of Commander Cody returning in the live-action Obi-Wan Kenobi series end up being true, then bringing Commander Cody into The Bad Batch at this time could potentially make all of this feel even more like a connected story across different TV shows. Viewers could potentially see Cody during the early days of the Empire this year and then see how he is a decade afterward next year, portrayed once again by Temuera Morrison. The actor returned to play Boba Fett in The Mandalorian, so it is possible that he could also reprise the role of a clone trooper. All of this is yet to be officially confirmed, but the pieces are there if Lucasfilm decides that this is how they want to play with the toys that are available for use. In any case, many fans wonder whatever happened to Commander Cody after his attempt to shoot down Obi-Wan Kenobi. It seems inevitable that, at some point sooner or later, Lucasfilm will flesh out what becomes of the character after the Clone Wars.
Source(s): Screen Rant