5 The Clone Wars Season 7 spoilers — and 3 ways it can still surprise us

After a six-year absence, Clone Troopers will start kicking down our doors again as Star Wars: The Clone Wars debuts its long-awaited seventh season this Friday. But did you know that Clone Wars producer Dave Filoni already spoiled the first four episodes of this season back in 2015 before The Force Awakens was even released?

That's right, during the 2015 Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim, in the shadow of the hype for Episode VII, the front-end for the storyline of this new season of The Clone Wars was mostly, already revealed.

Here's what we've known for the past five years about The Clone Wars Season 7, plus a few ways the new season could totally surprise us.

Clone Wars Season 7 spoilers (and speculation) ahead.

Clone Wars Season 7 Spoiler #5: The Bad Batch revealed

If you've been watching the trailers for The Clone Wars Season 7, you might be vaguely aware of a new group of clones called "The Bad Batch." But if you were at Star Wars Celebration in 2015, then you totally know who they are.

Also known as Clone Force 99, the "Bad Batch" consisted of Clones who were slightly different. Their name comes from the idea that they were a batch of clones that was made wrong or "bad."

The first episode of Clone Wars Season 7 is called "The Bad Batch," and in 2015, an incomplete version of it was shown in "reel form" at Star Wars Celebration along with "A Distant Echo," "On the Wings of Keeradaks," and "Unfinished Business." Right now, the first two episodes of Clone Wars Season 7 are definitely "The Bad Batch" and "A Distant Echo," and it's a good bet that episodes 3 and 4 are still "On the Wings of Keeradaks" and "Unfinished Business."

Clone Wars Season 7 spoiler #4: The fate of Echo

The rescue of a presumed Clone Trooper named Echo is a huge part of the plot of the "Bad Batch" arc at the start of Clone Wars Season 7.

Again, this spoiler is literally five years old because the episode "A Distant Echo" was quasi-released five years ago, the synopsis is pretty easy to find. Anyway, spoiler alert within a spoiler alert: Echo is alive, but he's been fitted with cybernetic implants so the Separatists can hack his brain and figure out the Republic strategies.

This is kind of funny when you consider that the Separatists are being controlled by the same person who controls the Republic, but it also goes pretty far to prove how real this war was for everyone fighting it, even if the outcome was pre-planned. Also, Echo totally looks like a Borg drone from Star Trek with all of his cybernetic implants.

Clone Wars Season 7 spoiler #3. The Poletecs and the Keeradaks

On the planet Skako Minor, on a mission to find Echo, Anakin Skywalker, Captain Rex and the Bad Batch are lured into a trap set by the Separatists. They also encounter the indigenous aliens of the planet called the Poletecs, who initially are perceived as "primitives."

Anakin knows better, but Wat Tambor doesn't. The Poletecs have figured out how to tame some dangerous winged reptiles called the Keeradaks. These things are a big deal in the first few episodes of Clone Wars Season 7.

Clone Wars Season 7 spoiler #2: Mace Windu and Obi-Wan fly some Y-Wings

At some point during a battle on the planet Anaxes, Obi-Wan and Mace Windu lead an assault to take out a Separatist plant. This happens in the episode called "Unfinished Business," which during the original plan for Clone Wars Season 7 would be episode 4, and it probably still is.

At some point in this one, Obi-Wan and/or Mace will fly some Y-Wings, you know, Gold Squadron-style.

Clone Wars Season 7 spoiler #1: Wat Tambor's defeat

Okay, so we know Wat Tambor is alive in Revenge of the Sith, but in the "Bad Batch" arc of the Clone Wars both he and Admiral Trench are the big bads. Basically, at the beginning of the arc things are looking good for Wat Tambor, and by the end, he kind of gets owned by the Jedi, the Clones, and the Bad Batch.

So with all those spoilers already out in the open, can Clone Wars Season 7 still surprise us? Here's three ways it can do just that.

Clone Wars Season 7 plot twist #3: What young Kanan Jarrus knows

Okay. So outside of the "Bad Batch" plot arc, what else do we know about Clone Wars Season 7? Well, for one thing, we know that a very young version of Kanan Jarrus has been slipped in, but at this point in time he'll be going by Caleb Dume because that was his original and real name. In Rebels, we met an adult Kanan Jarrus, who survived Order 66 as a young Jedi padawan and went into hiding.

The Clone Wars takes place before Order 66. So for the very first time we'll see Caleb/Kanan when he was a padawan to Jedi Master Depa Billaba. Because we'll now see some of The Clone Wars through the eyes of young Kanan, this could change what we think he knows about the galaxy in Rebels. It also might help to explain how Kanan spoke through the Force to Rey in The Rise of Skywalker, but that last bit is kind of a long shot.

Clone Wars Season 7 plot twist #2: Sith Loyalists in the Clone Wars?

Here's another possible Rise of Skywalker connection that The Clone Wars could explore: What's up with the Sith Loyalists?

Nearly everything about Palpatine's return in The Rise of Skywalker suggests a contingency plan to get him cloned (or something) was in place way before the Rebellion ever happened. This could mean that Sith Loyalists are lurking around during. The Clone Wars, secretly building a base on Exegol.

Clone Wars Season 7 could help to iron out the biggest retcon of all: Why were there so many Sith Loyalists on Exegol, and what have they been doing all these years?

Clone Wars Season 7 plot twist #1: Ahsoka, Maul and the Seige of Mandalore

Without a doubt, the one aspect of The Clone Wars Season 7 that fans are looking forward to the most is the retroactive return of Ahsoka Tano.

Now, we already know what happens to Ahsoka during the era of the Rebellion: She becomes a huge Rebel informant, she fights Darth Vader, gets pulled out of that fight via time travel, and, eventually, meets up with Sabine to go looking for Ezra somewhere out in hyperspace. But, in The Clone Wars Season 7, we're going to get an untold chapter that has only been hinted at before: Ashoka's role in the Seige of Mandalore.

In the Rebels episode "The Lost Commanders," it was revealed that both Rex and Ahsoka went into hiding after Order 66 happened, which apparently, was close to when they were both fighting on Mandalore.

Why does all of this matter? Well, in Season 5 of The Clone Wars, Ahsoka was kicked out of the Jedi Order on some trumped-up terrorism accusations. By the time of Rebels, Ahsoka does not identify herself as a Jedi, but obviously still uses the Force like gangbusters and wields two lightsabers. (Ahsoka also spoke to Rey through the Force in The Rise of Skywalker.)

The point is, we don't know how or why Ahsoka seemed to briefly rejoin the Jedi formally enough to be in charge of Clone Troopers on Mandalore. From dialogue in Rebels, we know Ahoska will fight Darth Maul on Mandalore and that at some point Maul will (briefly) be re-captured by Palps. Because the Seige of Mandalore has never actually been depicted, it's a good bet aspects of The Mandalorian will be explained here, specifically, the origin of "The Way."

But for Ahoska fans, it will provide a super-relevant moment in her biography that we've never understood. How did she survive Order 66? And what price did she have to pay to do it?

THE CLONE WARS SEASON 7 HITS DISNEY+ ON FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21.