... ok hear me out, i have a batshit theory idea.

what if hemlock never got tech's body?

we only see him with tech's glasses, and no indication that he or the stormtroopers under his command were the ones who found his body once he fell.

that tidbit is important.

tech "died" on eriadu. eriadu is governor tarkin's homeworld and homebase. and tarkin, as seen in s1, is FASCINATED with the bad batch's capabilities. to have the smartest, and arguably most technologically knowledgeable batcher, is an opportunity i don't think he'd hand over to hemlock.

what i'm saying is that the winter soldier tech theory could still be true. even if it's not in the context of the original bad batch show, we still have the potential of imperial tech, even if he may be much older and wiser facing off against omega trying to break imperial programming and bring him home, a la bucky barnes.

i think an older omega facing off against a winter soldier tech is INFINITELY more interesting angle than it happening in the bad batch show, because of the depth of time since his death had passed. they all have grieved and moved on, keeping pieces of tech with them as they settled into their civilian lives and got their bittersweet ending. uprooting that approximately 12 years in the future, where omega had lived longer without him than she had lived with him (around a year post order 66, my timing with the later seasons of bad batch make more sense than the timeframe of s1 to me) would be INFINITELY more interesting and thought provoking than it would have been to bring him back in the bad batch s3.

and on top of the drama of a grown-up omega meeting an imperial tech and having to come to terms with the fact he survived, tarkin having his brain? having him working on the project stardust? foaming at the mouth. dying, even. (also itd be funny if tech and galen erso became friends at some point if tech was working on project stardust at all.)

not to mention the rest of the batch.

disclaimers: i know he's dead. his death makes sense with the rest of season 3 to back it up and subtly support it.

this is just a fun what-if theory.

if apollo's dodgeball of prophecy smacks me in the face in a few years' time i WILL be resigning from the internet and living as a hermit for the rest of my days.