Star Wars: The Bad Batch wasted no time in bringing canon characters into its storyline, starting with Admiral Tarkin in the inaugural episode, while also keeping a sharp focus on the Star Wars timeline. The series begins with Order 66 -- Emperor’s activation of the Clone Army’s inhibitor chips that turned them against the Jedi in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith -- and continues the story of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, shifting to the Bad Batch as protagonists in light of the Jedi’s destruction. Given all of that, the question of Darth Vader’s location during The Bad Batch becomes an important one.
Revenge of the Sith provides very specific locations for Vader during and immediately after Order 66. His path from there vanishes from the screen until Star Wars: Rebels, Season 2, Episode 1, “The Siege of Lothal,” four years before the Battle of Yavin. Thankfully, Marvel’s in-canon comic, Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith, provides further clarity on Vader’s path after Revenge of the Sith.
There is no official timeline for The Bad Batch yet, and most of the details in parallel storylines stay deliberately vague about when they happen. This gives the storytellers freedom to act but leaves everything else an estimation at best. Order 66 takes place concurrently in multiple locations across the galaxy, which allows a common point of reference as far as the canon timeline goes. Besides Revenge of the Sith, it appears most prominently in both the premiere of The Bad Batch and Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Season 7, Episode 11, “Shattered.”
Lucasfilm story guru Pablo Hidalgo revealed that two full days pass between Order 66 and the birth of Padme’s twins, which is presumably enough time for the first two episodes of The Bad Batch to take place. Vader himself murders the younglings in the Jedi Temple during Order 66, then travels to Mustafar to kill the Separatist leadership there before his fateful duel with Obi-Wan. The Bad Batch ends Episode 2, "Cut and Run," in transit to parts unknown. At the same time, the Emperor takes the grievously wounded Vader back to Coruscant to rebuild him into his armor, when Dark Lord of the Sith begins.
According to the comics, Vader spends the first days after the fall of the Republic in Coruscant, witnessing the purging of the last remnants of the Jedi, and taking instruction from Palpatine on Sith abilities. He subsequently becomes the Emperor’s direct agent, bypassing the Imperial hierarchy entirely and focusing on missions of special importance to Palpatine. That includes training Force-sensitives into the Imperial Inquisition, hunting down surviving Jedi and ferreting out signs of the nascent Rebellion. In that way, the vagueness of the timeline allows future The Bad Batch episodes to place Vader potentially anywhere and still have him cross paths with Clone Force 99. This is especially true if Omega turns out to be Force-sensitive, precisely the thing to merit an investigation from Vader.
Dark Lord of the Sith's timeline also includes a pair of more specific incidents, which could easily involve the Bad Batch in several ways. The first is the occupation of Mon Cala -- a major turning point in the evolution of the Rebellion -- which Vader participated in approximately a year after Order 66. The second is an investigation into Geonosis, which leads Vader to the knowledge of the Death Star. Its exact timing is imprecise, but would certainly fit into the era covered by The Bad Batch.
Indeed, nothing limits the timetable of The Bad Batch for at least a decade of canon timeline, and if the creative team keeps to form, they will remain vague about exactly when it all takes place. That makes Vader’s possible presence in the series an educated guess. But Star Wars shows aren’t afraid to bring major characters into their stories, and the comics have left some intriguing possibilities behind. It remains to be seen if The Bad Batch will bring in someone like Vader, but its connections to the larger Star Wars franchise will continue to grow.
Created by Dave Filoni, Star Wars: The Bad Batch stars Dee Bradley Baker, Andrew Kishino and Ming-Na Wen. A new episode debuts each Friday on Disney+.