Star Wars The Bad Batch Season 3 Episode 5 ‘The Return’ just premiered on Disney+ Hotstar earlier today, and there’s an unexpected albeit unintentional ‘Dune crossover’ of sorts. It’s unofficial, of course, but the timing of it all feels bizarre, considering that Dune Part Two only recently premiered in cinemas worldwide last week.

So, what happened in Star Wars The Bad Batch Season 3 Episode 5? Well, the Bad Batch crew goes to an unnamed planet where a remote and understaffed Imperial post is located in order to bypass encryption on Nala Se’s datapad. Once they reach there, they discover why it was so ‘understaffed’ in the first place; there are wyrm creatures there that’s eerily like the sandworms AKA Shai-Hulud in the Dune franchise.

Sure, giant burrowing worms aren’t exclusive to Dune, and they’re featured in many different franchises across genres, such as the Graboids in the Tremor movies. However, I wanted to point this out because of how Star Wars The Bad Batch Season 3 Episode 5 was released so close to Dune Part Two that it makes this a funny coincidence.

Also, the wyrm in Star Wars The Bad Batch Season 3 Episode 5 moves almost exactly like the sandworms in Dune. They make a noticeable bulge when moving underground and they even look similar to the sandworms. The biggest difference is that these wyrms move through snow instead of sand.

Oh, and you don’t have to mention the Sarlacc to me. The Sarlacc may look like a Dune sandworm but it doesn’t move like one.

Again, it’s just nice to see something like this happening so close together, even if it’s probably just a coincidence and unofficial.

Also, did you know that Dune was one of George Lucas’ inspirations for creating Star Wars?

Three years ago, we managed to participate in a brief exclusive interview with actress Gwendoline Yeo, who voices the Kaminoan named Nala Se in Star Wars The Bad Batch, as well in a roundtable interview with head writer and executive producer Jennifer Corbett as well as supervising director and executive producer Brad Rau, courtesy of Disney+ Hotstar Malaysia.

You can also check out our review of Dune Part Two by heading over here. Dune Part Two is now showing in Malaysian cinemas.