Star Wars' Cloning Explained: Clone Army, Project Necromancer, & Palpatine's Resurrection

Summary Clone troopers and Kamino played a pivotal role in the Clone Wars era and the rise of the Galactic Empire.

Kaminoans were master cloners who created a powerful army for the Republic using genetic information from Jango Fett.

Cloning technology continued to be important post-Clone Wars, with projects like Project Necromancer aiding Emperor Palpatine.

Over the past 22 years of Star Wars history, cloning, clone troopers, and Kamino have all become more and more important. Ever since the release of Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones in 2002, audiences have known about the Galactic Republic's army of clone troopers, and just how significant of a force it was in galactic history. The clones and the Clone Wars, however, have been a part of Star Wars' history for even longer, dating back to a reference in the original movie in 1977.

Initially commissioned as part of Chancellor Palpatine's plot to take over the galaxy while it was engulfed in the Clone Wars, the clone army was created on the planet Kamino. The army was discovered by Obi-Wan Kenobi, who found that the planet had been erased from the Jedi Temple's archives. Ever since, it's been revealed that there is so much more to the clones, their homeworld, and everything that they caused - and here's all of it explained.

Related Every Clone Who Disobeyed Order 66 In Star Wars Canon & Legends Star Wars' Clone Troopers were bred for absolute loyalty and secretly created to destroy the Jedi...but not every one obeyed the sinister Order 66.

Kamino Was The Home Of Cloning In Star Wars

The Kaminoans Were Master Cloners – And Created An Army

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As seen in Attack of the Clones, and even more so in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: The Bad Batch, Kamino was an ocean planet, almost completely engulfed by storms. Kamino was located in the Wild Space sector of the Star Wars galaxy, and was technically extra-galactic, being located just beyond the Rishi Maze - a satellite galaxy to the main one. Kamino was home to the Kaminoans, aliens who specialized in cloning technology.

Not much is known about the Kaminoans before the creation of the Grand Army of the Republic, but it's safe to assume that they had created armies before. The Kaminoans used accelerated growth rates in order to grow clones much faster, and even trained them for combat in their facilities. Still, no army they had created before 22 BBY, when the Clone Wars began, was as well-made as the Republic's army, as stated by Kaminoan Prime Minister Lama Su himself:

Yes, a clone army. And, I must say, one of the finest we've ever created.

Cloning Was Vital During The Clone Wars Era

Kamino Became One Of The Most Important Planets In The Republic

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Obi-Wan Kenobi's discovery of the clones on Kamino was incredibly well-timed, too, as the Republic was soon after engulfed in a war against the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Because of that, Kamino and cloning became extremely important for the war effort. The Kaminoans used the genetic information of bounty hunter Jango Fett to create the army, leading to a distinct challenge after he was killed by Mace Windu on Geonosis.

Throughout the war, more and more clones were made, even as Jango's DNA degraded - but never enough to majorly affect the cloning effort; only enough to encourage the Empire to shut it down after taking control. The original clones of Jango Fett were Boba Fett, an unaltered clone son for the bounty hunter, and Omega, an unaltered female clone who worked as a lab assistant on Kamino. At one point, Kamino was even attacked by Separatist forces, and clones fought to defend their home from destruction for the first time.

The Empire's Destruction Of Kamino

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After its rise following Order 66 and the end of the Clone Wars, the Empire began to change what it used Kamino for. All clones, young and old, were moved off site, making way for the advanced facilities to be completely shut down as the Empire began filling its military with human soldiers rather than clones. This all came to a head when the Empire orbitally bombarded the capital of Kamino, Tipoca City, destroying all of its cloning technology and leaving Kaminoans either as refugees or in the Empire's custody - but cloning's importance in galactic history didn't stop there.

Related Why The Kaminoans Made Omega The Same Way As Boba Fett (Was It Jango?) The Bad Batch has revealed that Omega is, like Boba, an unaltered clone of Jango - but why did the Kaminoans make another unaltered clone of Fett?

Palpatine Established Project Necromancer After The Clone Wars

Cloning Returns To Aid The Empire & Its Emperor

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After gaining control of the galaxy as Emperor, Sheev Palpatine began focusing on efforts to make his rule more and more permanent, and one effort was Project Necromancer. Necromancer was a designated effort for developing cloning technology that allowed for the creation of Force-sensitive clones, whom Palpatine could transfer his consciousness into upon his death. Necessary for the project was a clone with a high enough Midichlorian count, which led to the Emperor desperately hunting Omega, who had Force-sensitive levels of Midichlorians.

Necromancer was a designated effort for developing cloning technology that allowed for the creation of Force-sensitive clones.

Most of the research for Palpatine's clone-based contingency happened on the planet Wayland, at a research base known as Mount Tantiss. Palpatine stationed a scientist named Doctor Royce Hemlock there to conduct research on Force-sensitive children, likely working towards making a suitable clone for the Emperor. All of this was disrupted by Clone Force 99, also known as the Bad Batch, who were a group of rebellious and modified clone commandos that destroyed the base in the wake of their rescue of Omega from the facility.

Project Necromancer Began Again After Palpatine's Death

The Imperial Remnant Continued This Effort

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Long after the events of The Bad Batch in the Star Wars timeline, multiple episodes of The Mandalorian have brought Project Necromancer to the forefront as well. The remnants of the Empire are shown, specifically in relation to Moff Gideon's remnant, to be focusing on cloning technology for various reasons. Project Necromancer is even mentioned by name during the Imperial Shadow Council meeting in The Mandalorian season 3, specifically in the context of Commandant Hux.

Grand Admiral Thrawn's return will herald in the reemergence of our military, and provide Commandant Hux enough time to deliver on Project Necromancer.

Commandant Hux went on to help found the First Order, bringing everything full-circle in terms of Palpatine's cloning and Supreme Leader Snoke. Snoke was created with cloning technology, and he eventually became the singular leader of the Imperial Remnant. These Remnant leaders, however, also seemed to all be working towards the goal of making suitable clones for the Emperor, one of which is clearly seen in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. All of this together has made cloning a very solid throughline in the Star Wars timeline, from the Clone Wars to the Final Order.

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