Eight Years After Rogue One, Star Wars Is Retconning The Death Star's Origin Again

Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for The Bad Batch season 3, episode 15

Summary Tarkin's role in the Death Star project is expanded in The Bad Batch, now linked to Project Stardust's funding.

Grand Moff Tarkin's involvement in the Death Star now goes beyond mere structural supervision.

The Bad Batch subtly retcons Tarkin's role in the Death Star project, revealing his greater part in its overall creation long before Rogue One.

Star Wars has subtly retconned the origins of the Death Star eight years after Rogue One. Adding some new context while also confirming some key elements in the superweapon's construction, it's been revealed that Grand Moff Tarkin had a much bigger role with "Project Stardust" than was previously established. This comes from The Bad Batch season 3, episode 15, with Project Necromancer receiving a massive delay in its progress during the Dark Times of the Empire's role.

As seen in The Bad Batch's series finale, Doctor Hemlock was killed by Clone Force 99. Likewise, his cloning facility on Mount Tantiss was massively destroyed and the vast majority of his clone and Force-sensitive test subjects successfully escaped by the finale's end. This included all the data on Project Necromancer being lost as well, Hemlock's chief directive involving the creation of a viable Force-sensitive clone body for Emperor Palpatine. With the project having been dealt such a heavy blow, Grand Moff Tarkin makes an important decision, one that reveals new insights about the Death Star's origins.

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"Stardust" Now Refers To The Entire Death Star Project

Not Just The Superweapon

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At the end of The Bad Batch season 3, episode 15, Grand Moff Tarkin arrives to survey the damage at Mount Tantiss. Once hearing the report that all the data on Project Necromancer was lost, Tarkin makes the executive decision to divert all funds from Necromancer to Project Stardust, otherwise known as the construction of the Death Star. However, it's interesting to note that "Project Stardust" has effectively become the shorthand for the entire Death Star project at large. Originally, "Stardust" was but one sub-project of many, as confirmed in the 2016 novel Catalyst by James Luceno:

"In fact, each separate department of the battle station project had its own cover name and cover agency, and Galen wasn’t alone in working for a counterfeit division and having his research put to alternative uses. Scattered across the galaxy were teams of scientists working on conventional weaponry, tractor beam and hyperdrive technology, even hull cladding systems. Each project was concealed behind names like Stellar Sphere, Mark Omega, and Pax Aurora."

It's known that Galen Erso was specifically in charge of constructing the battle station's superlaser and his work with kyber crystals. Having named his work Project Stardust after his daughter Jyn, it makes a certain amount of sense that Stardust and its work on the battle station's primary function would become the shorthand for the entire secret project at large. However, Tarkin's decision to divert funding away from Necromancer to Stardust is quite notable as well.

The Bad Batch Retconned Tarkin's Involvement In The Death Star

More Than Structural Supervision

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According to Luceno's 2014 novel Tarkin, the powerful Grand Moff was only in charge of the Death Star's structural supervision, while others like Director Orson Krennic (introduced in Rogue One) were more directly in charge of the day-to-day construction and weapons research. This was especially true at this point in the timeline with The Bad Batch season 3. The destruction of Mount Tantiss takes place years before Tarkin assumes control of the Death Star from Krennic as seen in 2016's Rogue One.

Instead, The Bad Batch season 3 finale now sees Tarkin responsible for Project Stardust's funding, seeking to divert resources from Necromancer (a project he doesn't even know the exact details of) in favor of supporting the ongoing work on the Death Star. While it's not drastically significant in terms of the overall Star Wars canon, it confirms that Tarkin was more involved than previously established, especially at this point in the timeline. After all, one would have thought that securing funding would have fallen under Krennic's purview, though it seems the Death Star was truly just as much Tarkin's achievement as it was his.

All episodes of The Bad Batch season 3 are now streaming on Disney+.