Cut Lawquane's Future After 'The Bad Batch'
Earlier this season, it was a welcome surprise to many that Cut Lawquane, the clone deserter from The Clone Wars, made an appearance on The Bad Batch. In the second episode, appropriately titled "Cut and Run," we saw Cut and his family leave Saleucami since the Empire presence was becoming heavier on that world. However, this is not the first time that we have heard what he was up to after the Clone Wars.
Back in 2015, we got the canonical (whatever that means at this point) novel Star Wars: Aftermath, which included interludes showing a panoramic view of the galaxy following the Empire's defeat at the Battle of Endor. One of these interludes takes place on Saleucami and features a father named Glen Taffral and his two sons Dav and Webb, who prefer the Rebel Alliance and the Empire respectively. At a family dinner, Glen says the following:
"'Both of you, picking sides. Side you should pick is your family. No matter what. Above all else. But here you sit, bickering like a bunch of starkles over which one gets the first and last worm. You know the Lawquanes? Old man Cut, he fought in the Clone Wars. He saw the truth of things: No side in war is the right side. He did the right thing. Settled down. Had a family. Never got drawn back into the muck.'"
With this interlude set in 4 ABY, Cut would look like he's in his seventies due to the clone growth acceleration, hence "Old man Cut." From the sound of it, he and his family are alive and well at this point. When I first read this nearly six years ago, I inferred that Cut and his family remain on Saleucami during the entire duration of the Empire's reign and somehow stayed out of the fight. Glenn's familiarity with the Lawquane family is what made me believe this, and it seems like his sons know of the Lawquanes as well.
The episode "Cut and Run" may call this into question, however. We have seen the Lawquanes depart from Saleucami for a safer place shortly after the Clone Wars. It seems doubtful that they would want to return at any point during the reign of the Empire. Then again, maybe that is not outside the realm of possibility. It is quite possible that at some point, the Lawquanes hear of Rebel Alliance efforts that take place during Rebels, Rogue One, and the original trilogy. Maybe these victories would be enough to make Cut and Suu's kids, Shaeeeah and Jek, want to fight back against the Empire when they are in their twenties. Could the family perhaps take part in some sort of liberation of Saleucami?
The thing is, though, that Glen insists that Cut never got dragged back into any war. The mention of the whole Lawquane family does suggest that none of them got involved, but Cut is whom he mentions explicitly. However, there might be a bit of wiggle room, as it is possible that Cut takes part in the fight against the Empire without Glen knowing. Or he could even be fudging details to make a point to his sons. We do not really know the ages of Glen and his sons, and we do not know how long they have known of the Lawquanes. It is difficult to tell whether they may have known of them prior to the Empire. Maybe they could have heard about Cut's backstory much later on.
As I said, there is a bit of wiggle room with multiple options that could still allow for what we hear in this interlude to still line up with what we see in The Bad Batch. The only thing that would really contradict it is if we see the death of Cut Lawquane long before he can become "Old man Cut." We have seen in the premiere that the team behind the TV show had no qualms contradicting how fans saw Order 66 play out with Caleb Dume and Depa Billaba in the Kanan comics, so it is difficult to say whether the team will keep the Aftermath interlude in mind if they ever do bring the Lawquanes back into the series. Personally, I would just prefer for the Lawquanes to be left out of the rest of the show. The blanks can be filled by the imagination.