Star Wars Zero Company’s Cast Talks about that Huge Order 66 Moment

Published Nov 2, 2026, 9:00 AM EST Bit Reactor wanted a memorable Order 66 scene from the outset Image: Electronic Arts What series is stuffed with more iconic moments than Star Wars? From Qui-Gon Jin’s defeat to Luke blowing up the Death Star, Star Wars is full of classic scenes ranging from tragic to triumphant. One of the prequel trilogy’s most memorable sequences is when Emperor Palpatine orders the clone army to “execute Order 66” in Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith. A montage then plays out showing clone commanders and their troops murdering several Jedi. Order 66 and the Great Jedi Purge have been depicted in various Star Wars media, like Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Star Wars: The Bad Batch. Bit Reactor’s beloved strategy game Star Wars Zero Company has its own huge Order 66 moment. Polygon recently spoke with several Zero Company cast members — Jonathan Freeman (male Hawks), Dee Bradley Baker (Trick), and Vic Michaelis (Runa) — about their reactions to that Order 66 moment. We also chatted with creative director Greg Foertsch about how Bit Reactor brought Order 66 to life. “A lot happens across the galaxy in a snap,” Baker said. “It's a dramatically really interesting moment in Star Wars.” [Ed. note: Spoilers follow for Star Wars Zero Company.] Just when you think your team of misfits is ready to undertake their final mission, Palpatine issues Order 66, leading clone trooper Trick to turn on his allies, including a Jedi Padawan, Tel-Rea. Republic intelligence officer Bennic also tries to arrest Zero Company, further adding to the betrayal. Fans have experienced Order 66 and the Great Jedi Purge across various mediums and Star Wars stories, but Zero Company does something different. Players are forced to control Trick in actually carrying out the attack. Star Wars Zero Company is an excellent game, and it’s surprising and innovative moments like this that could propel it into the end-of-year awards conversations. From the outset, Bit Reactor wanted to “straddle” Order 66 with the game’s setting, according to Foertsch, because Zero Company takes place during The Clone Wars and into the early days of the Empire. Still, it presented a challenge, as the developers needed to ensure players cared about Trick prior to his forced betrayal. By the time the mission comes around, Trick (one of your strongest companions) has likely become an integral part of your squad, seeing as how he’s been there since the beginning. That reliability was intentionally baked into canon between him and the main character too. Image: Bit Reactor, Respawn Entertainment/EA “By tying Trick to Hawks prior to the game, that [ensures] they have a connection that extends beyond the current version of Zero Company that the player is experiencing,” Foertsch said. The player will also care for the Padawan Tel-Rea (if she’s still alive), and will be made to attack her as Trick. Baker called Order 66 “the heartbreak of the clones,” and nothing is more heartbreaking than the player being forced into a position where they have to harm a squadmate. “We felt it was a really unique moment, and something very special to Zero Company,” Foertsch added. Image: Bit Reactor, Respawn Entertainment/EA via Polygon Order 66 first happened in 2005’s Revenge of the Sith, but it’s no less relevant to today’s world. “Everything flips, and tyranny takes over,” Baker said. “In some ways, maybe it's the most important moment in Star Wars, to show how democracy falls and how diabolical authoritarian [rule] can be. That's an important and relevant moment in our world right now.” To Freeman, the Order 66 moment encapsulated Zero Company “in a nutshell.” While so much of Star Wars focuses on the grand machinations of the movers and shakers throughout the galaxy, Zero Company, ahem, zeroes in on a wily bunch of outcasts on their own side adventure during the Clone Wars. “It's just so cool to take the huge, epic, iconic story [of Star Wars] and pinpoint this very specific important moment and show it happening in real time to people off to the side,” Freeman said. Image: Bit Reactor, Respawn Entertainment/EA via Polygon He enjoyed how Zero Company’s Order 66 moment involved random, regular people being perplexed by this sudden hologram of their new emperor showing up, a scene that surely took place throughout every city and major hub of the new Galactic Empire. “I think that's what makes this story special,” he said. Getting perspectives on Order 66 from characters who aren’t Jedi or clones was a shared goal among Bit Reactor’s team, according to Foertsch. “We wanted to show that event from a different lens, and a very different perspective than fans had ever seen before,” he said. The Order 66 turn is especially impactful on Freeman’s Hawks. He and Bennic had been bonding throughout the game, but suddenly they’re placed at a crossroads. Hawks picks the path of sticking with Zero Company, while Bennic continues working for what has now become the Galactic Empire. Image: Bit Reactor, Respawn Entertainment/EA via Polygon “The relationships in this script are just so good,” Freeman said, calling them a “vital” part of the game and its story. He was glad Hawks and Bennic reconciled at the end, but, unlike players, he knew they’d be friends again from the very beginning. Freeman tipped his hat to developer Bit Reactor, saying, “[to] have time for these moments, for the relationships to stand out and to have such consequence and heart, is pretty impressive.” For Michaelis, Order 66 in Zero Company “feels very Star Wars-ian.” Their character, Runa, isn’t at the hangar with Hawks, Trick, and the others when Order 66 goes down. Instead, she’s at the holotable, where she spends most of the game. “I was learning about [Order 66] in real time with a lot of people,” Michaelis said. Like Freeman, they’re new to Star Wars, but have been a lifelong fan of the series. They said that there are some roles “where it's a job and you're saying stuff,” but working on Star Wars is different. “Watching the game come together, with the Star Wars music piped in underneath, it really is like, ‘Oh my God, we are in Star Wars. We're in Star Wars right now,’” they said. “It is very surreal, and [Order 66] was one of those moments too.” Image: Bit Reactor, Respawn Entertainment/EA via Polygon Star Wars Zero Company may have been the first time Michaelis experienced Order 66 as part of the Star Wars grand apparatus, but the same can’t be said for Baker. Having voiced the clones for nearly two decades now, Baker has experienced the clones’ betrayal time and again. He noted that The Bad Batch even opened with it in a “shocking” moment. Baker recently told Polygon in an interview that he can’t remember all the different clones he’s voiced in the same way that the fans do. For Order 66, he similarly can’t keep track of every time he’s been a part of The Clone Wars’ climactic moment. “Once again, the fans know better than me how many times I've been through Order 66, I would imagine.” Additional reporting by Matt Patches. Star Wars Zero Company is out now on PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X.