New Star Wars TV show features a Mandalorian fan favorite – here's a first look

Fennec Shand in The Mandalorian season 2

Upcoming animated series Star Wars: The Bad Batch will launch on May 4, Star Wars Day, and it's bringing with it a returning character – The Mandalorian's Fennec Shand, who's also set to feature in The Book of Boba Fett on Disney Plus.

Again played by actress Ming-Na Wen in the series, Lucasfilm has now released a full first look at Fennec as she appears in The Bad Batch. Take a look at the image below, which was first posted on the official Star Wars Instagram account:

Here’s a look at Fennec Shand from #TheBadBatch! pic.twitter.com/UAXq23ZnpVMarch 1, 2021

The Bad Batch – a spin-off series of The Clone Wars – is set after Revenge of the Sith, and therefore this will be a younger version of the character we met in The Mandalorian.

The actress confirmed she was returning to voice Shand back in December 2020 to StarWars.com. "Everybody is saying they just want the confirmation. So, yes, it is Fennec! It’s a younger Fennec and she is voiced by me and I’m thrilled and beyond happy that Dave [Filoni] wanted to create more of a backstory for her."

The Mandalorian season 2, meanwhile, ended with Fennec and Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison) taking over Jabba the Hutt's palace, after executing overweight stand-in crime lord Bib Fortuna.

While the first episode of The Bad Batch arrives on Star Wars Day, subsequent episodes will roll out every Friday thereafter, starting May 7.

Star Wars in 2021

Star Wars looks like it's set to have a slightly quieter year in 2021. Last year saw The Mandalorian season 2, the final season of The Clone Wars, and the arrival of The Rise of Skywalker arrive on Disney Plus. Couple that with the release of the game Star Wars: Squadrons, and the franchise enjoyed a bumper 12-month period.

2022 is the year to get excited about, however. Not only will we see The Mandalorian season 3 land on the service following the end of The Book of Boba Fett, but we're likely to see Disney Plus series Obi-Wan Kenobi and Andor hit the streamer – both of which are filming now.

11 Star Wars TV shows are planned for the service in total, including Mando spin-offs Ahsoka and Rangers of the New Republic.

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Samuel is a PR Manager at game developer Frontier. Formerly TechRadar's Senior Entertainment Editor, he's an expert in Marvel, Star Wars, Netflix shows and general streaming stuff. Before his stint at TechRadar, he spent six years at PC Gamer. Samuel is also the co-host of the popular Back Page podcast, in which he details the trials and tribulations of being a games magazine editor – and attempts to justify his impulsive eBay games buying binges.