This Star Wars article contains spoilers for The Bad Batch.
The premise of The Bad Batch has its roots in The Clone Wars animated series, where the central squad of mutant clones first made their debut, so it only makes sense that the spinoff would bring back some of our favorites from that era of Star Wars. So far, we’ve seen the return of Captain Rex in season one, with Commander Cody also recently popping up in season two. Now, this week’s episode of The Bad Batch, titled “Tribe,” brings back yet another Clone Wars character: the Wookiee Jedi padawan Gungi.
First introduced in season five of The Clone Wars, Gungi is one of the five Jedi younglings who went on a rite of passage to the planet Ilum, a sacred place where they must find kyber crystals to build their very first lightsabers, an important step on the path to becoming a padawan. The story, which is told across a four-episode arc, sees Gungi and his friends attacked by pirates on their way back to Coruscant, join a circus troupe to rescue Ahsoka Tano, and face off against the sinister General Grievous.
Fans know this Clone Wars story best as the “Young Jedi” arc of the series, but it was originally conceived as the pilot movie for another animated spinoff following padawans. In fact, this Young Padawan series was one of the last Star Wars projects George Lucas considered developing before he sold Lucasfilm to Disney, according to Lucasfilm creative executive Pablo Hidalgo. Ultimately, the idea was scrapped and elements of the story were reworked for The Clone Wars.
While he appeared briefly in other episodes of that series, The Bad Batch‘s “Tribe” marks a true return for Gungi, who is central to this week’s mission. In the episode, we learn that, although Gungi survived Order 66, he’s been captured by a group of droid smugglers working in the black market. While Hunter and his team initially arrive at the droid’s space station to negotiate a deal for some black market chain codes, they end up helping Gungi escape back to his home planet of Kashyyyk, where he hopes to find the village where he was born.
Since younglings are taken from their families at such a young age, Gungi doesn’t really remember where he comes from. But during their search, the young Jedi and the Bad Batch end up helping a Wookiee village fight off Trandoshan slavers working for the Empire. By the end of the episode, the Empire has been defeated and Gungi has reconnected with his people. Although his future is unclear — will he take up the fight against the Empire in other parts of Kashyyyk or will he put down his green lightsaber and choose a different life? — The Bad Batch at least leaves Gungi in a better place than where he started.
Time will tell whether we’ll see this particular Jedi again on the show, but with 10 episodes still left in season two, The Bad Batch likely has a few more blasts from the past up its sleeve.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 2 is airing now on Disney+.