Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 3.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 3, episode 12, “Juggernaut” has revealed why both Omega and the Force-sensitive children being held captive by the Empire are essential to Project Necromancer and Emperor Palpatine’s return. The Bad Batch has become Star Wars’ best animated show, and season 3 has taken shocking turns thus far, firming up that spot. Even as the Star Wars show approaches its end, with just a few episodes to go, the surprises remain ongoing. Already, Omega has shown that she may be the very first Force-sensitive clone throughout Star Wars’ movies and TV shows.
Incredibly, this plot point saw the return of Asajj Ventress, the once-Sith apprentice of Count Dooku in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Although Ventress tested Omega’s Force abilities and claimed she found no evidence of Force sensitivity (while seemingly suspiciously like she was lying, “Juggernaut” has suggested that, whether Omega is Force-sensitive or not doesn’t matter to the Empire or Emperor Palpatine’s most important plan. In fact, the Empire may already have all they need to successfully complete Project Necromancer.
In Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Emperor Palpatine’s sudden return went sorely unexplained, with Poe Dameron infamously only saying, “Somehow, Palpatine returned.” However, Star Wars projects since the sequel trilogy have worked to better explain his return, and perhaps no other show has done more to accomplish that than The Bad Batch has. The Bad Batch season 3 in particular has revealed key details about Project Necromancer, Palpatine’s plan to live on in the event of his death.
As made clear by Palpatine’s rotting body, and additional context provided by follow-up Star Wars projects, though, the Palpatine depicted in The Rise of Skywalker is not Palpatine himself. Instead, this was a Palpatine clone, surprisingly imbued with Palpatine’s own Force powers (as evidenced by Palpatine’s ability to fight both Rey and Ben Solo, two worthy adversaries, at once). While clones were not new to Star Wars in light of the countless clone troopers in the original trilogy, a Force-sensitive clone certainly was.
In order to pull off such a shocking return, Palpatine needed Force-sensitive clones. It wasn’t enough for a version of him to endure—he needed that clone to still possess his power. That turned out to be no easy feat, though. In The Bad Batch, season 3, episode 12, “Juggernaut,” Dr. Hemlock explained, “An individual’s M-Count cannot be directly replicated.” This meant that, rather than simply cloning Palpatine to achieve the powerful clone seen in The Rise of Skywalker, Project Necromancer needed to be significantly more inventive. To do so, their experiments required a two-part plan.
Mysteriously, Omega is the only clone thus far who has been confirmed to sustain midi-chlorians. That isn’t for lack of trying, however. The Bad Batch season 3 elucidated that innumerable clones were subjected to similar experimentation by the Empire, but none successfully replicated M-counts. As Dr. Hemlock explained, the M-counts simply degraded over time. This is particularly surprising, given that clones would theoretically share an ability to replicate M-counts. Then again, the Force works in strange, unpredictable ways.
This ability by Omega is precisely why the Empire has been so desperate to track her down throughout The Bad Batch season 3. In The Bad Batch season 2 ending, it seemed as though the Empire was capturing Omega solely as an incentive to get Nala Se, the Kaminoan scientist behind the creation of the clone troopers in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, to work. The Bad Batch season 3 three-episode premiere revealed that the plan was much more insidious than this.
Rather than just leverage against Nala Se, Omega represented the success of the entire project and of Palpatine’s imminent return. Because Project Necromancer required Palpatine to outlive his body, the clone aspect of the plan specifically was pivotal. As the only clone whose body has sustained M-counts, the Empire needed Omega. Dr. Hemlock says so very explicitly in “Juggernaut,” telling her, “You are a vital piece to our work here, Omega.” Yet, their two-part plan still required one other source.
In The Bad Batch season 3, episode 12, Dr. Hemlock further explained that, combined with her sample, Project Necromancer required the sample of other M-count specimens. Tragically, The Bad Batch season 3, episode 10, “Identity Crisis” had already revealed exactly who those specimens were. In one of the darkest arcs of a Star Wars animated show to date, “Identity Crisis” revealed that multiple Force-sensitive children were being held on Tantiss for such experiments, the youngest being an infant.
Again, Dr. Hemlock laid the plan out explicitly—perhaps an odd choice, given that Omega had already escaped once and now knew a specific chunk of the plan. As Dr. Hemlock opened the vault where the children were being kept, he described them as “the rest of the puzzle.” It’s clear, then, that both Omega and the Force-sensitive children being held captive are mutually crucial aspects of Project Necromancer.
“Juggernaut” then ended with little resolution or clear indication of what would happen next. Given that The Bad Batch season 3 is the show’s final season and there are only three episodes remaining, the ending of The Bad Batch is looking quite foreboding. While Omega and Clone Force 99’s fates are unclear, Star Wars has already confirmed that, ultimately, Project Necromancer succeeds. Moreover, as Grogu is being hunted for his blood in The Mandalorian, it seems the project was ongoing even years later.
The Bad Batch season 3 has been a fascinating, informative, yet crushing addition to Star Wars. By revealing so much of the history behind Palpatine’s return, The Bad Batch has gone to some of the most sinister places in Star Wars thus far. While the deceased, preserved Force-sensitive child in Obi-Wan Kenobi was shocking and heartbreaking, seeing the Empire’s treatment of Force-sensitive children in real time is all the worse. While Star Wars: The Bad Batch has a few episodes left to go and questions remain, it’s clear that Omega and the Force-sensitive children are crucial.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch premieres new episodes Wednesdays at 3 AM ET, 12 AM PT, and 8 AM GMT on Disney+.
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