Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 2, episode 11
Star Wars continues to lay the groundwork for a new Grand iral Thrawn story, as seen in Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 2. Revealing a major Imperial facility with significance to the Emperor and later Thrawn himself, The Bad Batch pays off an old Clone Wars arc while setting up a much larger story for the Star Wars timeline. To that end, The Bad Batch may soon have major connections to future shows such as The Mandalorian, Ahsoka, and beyond.
In The Bad Batch season 2, episode 11, Clone Force 99 investigates a downed research vessel containing a vast amount of cloning tech and a juvenile Zillo Beast, cloned from the same creature that wreaked havoc on Coruscant during The Clone Wars. After it was killed via toxins, the original creature's remains were collected under the order of Palpatine. Now, The Bad Batch confirms the Empire continued these experiments, revealing they took place at a major location from Legends - one created by Timothy Zahn in his "Thrawn Trilogy," now brought back to canon.
The Bad Batch's Mount Tantiss Is Key To Thrawn's Legends Plans
As seen in Zahn's "Thrawn Trilogy," Mount Tantiss served as a key Imperial storehouse containing powerful artifacts belonging to Emperor Palpatine. As such, the facility on the planet Weyland was a legitimate labyrinth full of evil mementos. However, it would later become a cloning facility under the control of Grand iral Thrawn following the events of the original trilogy, helping him create an army for his new Imperial fleet.
The Bad Batch season 1's finale brought Mount Tantiss back to the official Star Wars canon, and it's confirmed in season 2, episode 11 that it's run by the Empire's Doctor Royce Hemlock. Having the Kaminoan cloner Nala Se in custody and eventually bringing Prime Minister Lama Su to the facility as well, it's confirmed that Hemlock was the one who cracked the code and successfully cloned the Zillo Beast. However, Mount Tantiss' greater history in Star Wars Legends could potentially come to the canon too.
Is The Bad Batch Season 2 Setting Up Grand iral Thrawn?
Considering the status of Mount Tantiss as a cloning facility in the official canon as well, Thrawn may be similarly connected to this secret Imperial base. It's even possible Thrawn could make a cameo appearance in future episodes of The Bad Batch as the Imperial leader in charge of overseeing the Empire's ongoing cloning experiments. However, Mount Tantiss could also connect to the already teased arrival of Thrawn in the live-action Star Wars shows set after the original trilogy such as The Mandalorian and Ahsoka. Perhaps this is where he's been hiding since his disappearance after Star Wars Rebels.
It's important to note the engineers working in the Tantiss facility wear the same Kamino insignia worn by The Mandalorian's Doctor Pershing, Moff Gideon's Imperial engineer tasked with studying and experimenting on Grogu. As such, he likely trained and/or worked at this facility under Hemlock. As such, it's evident that Star Wars: The Bad Batch's Mount Tantiss is likely a major Star Wars location that will be seen again due to its connections to Thrawn, Grogu, and perhaps the eventual resurrection of Emperor Palpatine himself.
Episodes of Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 2 stream Wednesdays on Disney+.