Star Wars: The Bad Batch Reveals the Fate of an Attack of the Clones Character
Back in 2002, it was impossible for fans to predict that Star Wars: Attack of the Clones would set in motion stories that we’d still be revisiting almost 20 years later. Indeed, like The Clone Wars animated series before it, The Bad Batch continues to pick up plot threads from the second prequel, presenting them in new and interesting ways.
For example, the new show explores how the Clone Wars and the rise of the Empire have changed Kamino, home to the cloning facilities where the soldiers of the Bad Batch, Omega, and all the other clones in Star Wars were created. We learn very early on in the premiere episode that the clone army’s victory over the Separatists (and the Jedi Order) may in fact lead to the downfall of the Kaminoans and the clones they created. Imperial leadership, including Admiral Tarkin, believes that the clone army has outlived its purpose and is becoming obsolete. This, of course, puts Kaminoan prime minister Lama Su’s business in jeopardy, but it’s revealed in “Bounty Lost” that he has one card left to play.
In the episode, The Bad Batch finally solves one of its most intriguing mysteries: the origin of Omega, a young, blond clone who obviously doesn’t look like the rest of her people (not to mention that she’s a girl, while all of the other clones are male). But her appearance isn’t the only special thing about her. We also learn that she’s an unmodified clone created from Jango Fett’s DNA — just like Boba Fett! Even her name ties into Jango Fett’s clone son, who was originally designated the code name “Alpha” before the bounty hunter named him. Yes, Omega is sort of Boba Fett’s sister…from a certain point of view.
It’s Tech who reveals the truth to his companions after studying Omega’s DNA more closely: “I further analyzed Omega’s genetic profile and discovered she has pure, first-generation DNA,” he says in the episode. “All clones were created from a host named Jango Fett. While our genetic structure was modified for growth and acceleration and obedience, Omega is a pure genetic replication.”
Therefore, since the Kaminoans have lost track of Boba in the years since the Clone Wars started, Omega is the only remaining source of Jango’s original DNA, the key to creating more Gen 1 clones and restoring the Clone Army to its glory days.
Earlier episodes allude to the fact that so many generations of clones have been created from Fett’s DNA at this point that the original genetic strain has been stretched too thin, resulting in mutations in the line as opposed to 1:1 copies of the Gen 1 clones. The rogue-ish Bad Batch, for example, are the result of these mutations.
Recovering Omega’s DNA would allow the Kaminoans to restore its line of Jango Fett clones to their purest form, which Lama Su believes will put his cloning facility back in the Empire’s good graces. He hires bounty hunter Cad Bane to recover “the asset” and bring her back to Kamino so that he can extract a sample of her DNA and terminate her.
But not all Kaminoans agree that this is the right course of action. Chief medical scientist Nala Se, one of the key engineers of the clone army, has hatched her own plan to save Omega, whom she feels protective of despite her beliefs in The Clone Wars that clones are disposable. It seems that Nala Se has had a change of heart.
The scientist secretly hires Fennec Shand to stop Cad Bane from returning her to Kamino. Fennec ambushes Bane at the rendezvous on Bora Vio, distracting the gunslinging bounty hunter long enough for Omega to escape on a flying pod and regroup with the Bad Batch. But not all make it out alive. One of Nala Se’s own is caught in the crossfire.
The fight sequence marks the end of the line for a character introduced in Attack of the Clones. In order to ambush Bane, Fennec intercepts and kills Taun We, the first Kaminoan Obi-Wan Kenobi encountered in Episode II. As Lama Su’s administrative aide, she was ordered to travel to Bora Vio to deliver Bane’s payment and bring back Omega. But all she got was a laser bolt in the back, an abrupt end for one of Attack of the Clones‘ most visually memorable characters.
Despite her role as the first Kaminoan introduced on screen, Taun We rarely appeared outside of Attack of the Clones. In fact, her brief appearances in two episodes of The Bad Batch are the extent of her story in the new canon. That said, Taun We actually outlived the Empire era in the old Legends continuity, later reappearing in the Legacy of the Force series of novels set almost 60 years after her introduction. In the book Bloodlines, Boba Fett tracks down Taun We in an attempt to cure a terminal illness. Unlike her encounter with Fennec, Taun We survives this particular run-in with a bounty hunter.
Meanwhile, The Bad Batch may have concluded Taun We’s canon story, but this is clearly only the start of a much larger schism waiting to happen within the Kaminoan ranks. It’s unlikely Nala Se’s attempts to foil Lama Su’s plans will remain a secret for long.
