Battlestar Galactica's Cylon Plan Explained (In Full)

Summary Cylons in Battlestar Galactica had a complex origin story as the final survivors of a long-lost civilization.

The Cylons engaged in a civil war driven by an ideological divide, leading to conflicts and alliances with humanity.

The Cylons did not have a single unified plan, but were divided by differing ideologies, driven apart by conflict.

The ultimate plan of the Cylons in Battlestar Galactica served as an underlying mystery for much of the sci-fi series. The series focused on the last of humanity struggling to escape the grasp of the robotic Cylons. The rebellious race of robots had not only turned on humanity but found a way to infiltrate their number with seemingly perfect facsimiles of people, all in the name of some unseen greater plan.

However, the series slowly explored the full scope of the Cylon characters' plans and origins, including the missing Five Cylons who were secretly from a long-lost civilization that had died out eons before the events of the series. Across the course of Battlestar Galactica and its spin-offs, the Cylons' plan even shifted in unexpected ways, setting up an ideological divide between the species that eventually grew into a full-scale civil war. Ultimately, the true "plan" of the Cylons was revealed to play into the overarching themes of the series in a way that only truly made sense once the dust had settled and their true history was revealed.

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What Happened To The Original Cylons Before Battlestar Galactica

The origins of the Cylons in Battlestar Galactica reflect the massive scope of the universe and the cyclical nature of the Battlestar Galactica timeline. The Cylons seen for much of the show were developed by Graystone Industries, as revealed in the prequel series Caprica. While these rudimentary Cylons became constants of human society, they steadily gained a religious faith thanks largely to the influence of Zoe-A, a virtual recreation of Daniel Graystone's deceased daughter. This eventually spurred the Cylons to see themselves as worthy of their own agency and destiny, prompting them to turn against the humans across the Twelve Colonies.

The subsequent Cylon War lasted twelve years and resulted in countless deaths. However, the war came to a sudden end when the Cylons called on the remnants of humanity for an armistice. Humanity accepted the deal, setting up forty years of relative peace and security for the Twelve Colonies while they rebuilt. The Cylons relented only thanks to the intervention of the Five, a group of humanoid Cylons from the long-lost tribe of Earth. The Five promised to share their secrets of humanoid manufacturing and resurrection technology in exchange for peace.

The Final Five's Initial Cylon Plan Explained

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The Five (Samuel Anders, Saul Tigh, Ellen Tigh, Galen Tyrol, and Tory Foster) were humanoid Cylons from the original Earth. Eons before the events of Battlestar Galactica, the five had actively been working on resurrection technology. Their fears of inevitable destruction eventually came to pass, with their Earth's new version of Cylon Drones rebelling. When that world's Cylon War ended in the destruction of the planet, the Five became the final survivors thanks to their completion of resurrection technology.

Without FTL, the Cylons took thousands of years to reach the rest of the Colonies, eventually discovering the other twelve worlds fighting their versions of the Cylons. Together with the Cylons, the Five sought to remake their people and advance the new Cylon race. They also embraced the faith of the Cylons, and worked to achieve their God's plans. They constructed the humanoid Ones, and worked with him to then design seven other models of Cylons.

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How Cavil Changed The Cylons' Plan (& Turned Them Into Villains)

However, the Ones (eventually taking the name Cavil) grew to hate their human aspects and turned against the Five. After ensuring the Sevens (otherwise known as Daniel) were corrupted and taken off-line, the Ones led a revolt against the Five. Seeking to prove to his creators that humanity was impossible to redeem, Cavil had their memories wiped and forced them to be reborn into new bodies. The Five were then deposited around the galaxy and left to believe themselves simply random citizens of the Twelve Colonies.

Cavil even ensured the other humanoid Cylons were unaware of their new identities, keeping them secret from all humans and Cylons. Rallying the other humanoid Cylons and ultimately the greater Cylon army to his belief in humanity's inherent flaws, Cavil helped set off the second Human/Cylon War. This conflict resulted in the destruction of the Twelve Colonies and the near eradication of humanity and was secretly the cause for the Cylons becoming the primary villains of Battlestar Galactica. However, Cavil's influence on the other Cylons eventually waned, especially as notable figures within the Cylon armies began to see humanity's potential.

What Every Cylon Faction Wanted In Battlestar Galactica

The Cylon Civil War set in after a group of Cylon Raiders ignored direct orders to attack the human fleet because of Samuel Anders' presence. Cavil, alongside the Fours, Fives, and specific Eight known as Sharon Valerii, argued for the lobotomization of the Raiders. The Sixes (led by Natalie), along with the last Three, the Twos, and most of the Eights, argued against this. While Cavil wanted to ensure the continued dominance of the mechanical Cylons, Natalie wanted to free all Cylons, as well as locate the Five and bring them back into the fold.

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Cavil's machinations resulted in the eradication of most of the resistance, while the remaining free Cylons allied themselves with humanity for survival and to find the Five. The Battle of the Resurrection Hub destroyed Cavil's main advantage in the conflict, while the Battle of the Colony ended with Cavil's forces destroyed. The remaining humanoid Cylons remained on the new Earth with the survivors of the Twelve Colonies. Meanwhile, the Centurions were given the remaining technology and ventured off into the cosmos away from organic life, in hopes of breaking the cycle of violence inherent to humanity and Cylon relations.

The Cylons Never REALLY Had A Plan In Battlestar Galactica

Despite the apparent importance of some overarching plan to the Cylon offensive, one of the big twists of Battlestar Galactica is that the Cylons were as flawed and contradictory as humanity. There was not an overarching scheme to the Cylons throughout the show. Rather, their own differing ideologies and motivations ultimately drove them apart. While some Cylons wanted to advance the robotic race and chart their own destinies, others were driven by their perceived holy missions or petty drives. Their unity was splintered by conflict and uprising, just the latest in an endless cycle of conflict between man and machine.

A remake of Battlestar Galactica is currently in development at Peacock.

For all of Cavil's decrying of humanity's flaws, it was his hatred and controlling nature that drove the Cylons apart. The attempts to unite the Cylons and allow them to control the future of the galaxy ultimately drove them further apart and cost countless lives, both human and robotic. While the Cylons may have had a unified mission at some points, there ultimately wasn't a plan that could fully unite all of them. In the end, they are just players in Battlestar Galactica's cycle of violence and peace.