WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 1, Episode 16, “Kamino Lost,” streaming now on Disney+.
When Star War: The Bad Batch was announced, many fans theorized that it would effectively be the eighth season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars -- and that theory has largely been proven right. Season 1 followed Clone Force 99 all over the galaxy, and almost every episode featured a cameo from one The Clone Wars character or another. Now that the season finale has aired, though, it appears The Bad Batch may wind up being more than just a covert Season 8 of The Clone Wars. It might end up being the de facto ending of the entire Clone Wars conflict.
In January 2021, Disney released a new timeline of Star Wars eras that include: The High Republic, The Fall of the Jedi, Age of The Empire, Age of Rebellion, The New Republic and Rise of The First Order. According to the timeline, the prequel films and the Clone Wars conflict all fall under the “The Fall of the Jedi." However, the new timeline is sure to put The Bad Batch series into the “Age of Empire” timeframe.
All of this means that the Clone Wars were over at the end of Revenge of the Sith, which makes sense. After all, Palpatine told the Senate that the war was over as he established the first Galactic Empire. More specifically, the newly dubbed Emperor Palpatine sent his apprentice, Darth Vader, to eliminate the Separatist Council on Mustafar. Hitherto, that moment of slaughter pinpointed the Clone Wars' official end. However, what happened in The Bad Batch season finale might end up being a more fitting and conclusive ending to the conflict.
A lot of The Bad Batch’s first season focused on how the Empire decided to phase out the Kaminoan clones as soon as possible. As early as the first episode, Crosshair received a group of elite human soldiers to lead against Saw Gerrera. Later in the series, the introduction of Captain Gregor and his training of the new TK troopers confirmed that project War-Mantle was well underway.
The two-part Season 1 finale only further confirmed this theory because Admiral Rampart transferred all the clones and Kaminoans out of Tipoca City. He was decommissioning the base, but he didn’t stop there. As soon as Crosshair’s efforts to capture Clone Force 99 failed, Rampart signaled aerial bombardment of the capital city. With no shields, everything was quickly destroyed and sunk into the sea. That destruction adds an exclamation mark to the end of the Clone Wars like no other event can.
While Anakin destroyed the Separatist war efforts in The Revenge of the Sith, Admiral Rampart destroyed the last symbol of the Republic’s military. From there, the Age of Empire can officially be unhindered. While Rampart destroyed Kamino, he also co-opted Nala Se and her cloning knowledge. With these actions, the Galactic Empire has ensured no clone army could rise to challenge its rule. Instead, all reasonable speculation says that whatever remains of the Kaminoan clone program will be rededicated to Palpatine's contingency plan.
To decide what the end of The Clone Wars is for yourself, watch Star Wars: The Bad Batch on Disney+ where all episodes are now streaming. The show has also been greenlit for a second season which will premiere sometime in 2022.