This Star Wars: The Bad Batch article contains spoilers.
Despite being called The Bad Batch, much of the story of the latest Star Wars animated series actually revolves around Omega, a mysterious clone who runs away from Kamino and the Empire with Clone Force 99 at the start of the show. Once just a medical assistant working in the cloning facilities, Omega is now a fugitive on the run from both Imperial forces hunting the Bad Batch and the bounty hunters sent by the Kaminoans to retrieve her. Along the way, Omega learns to defend herself, becomes closer to the rough-around-the-edges clone mutants of Clone Force 99, and begins to learn what makes her so special.
From her very first introduction, it’s easy to see there’s was something different about Omega. Even though Omega’s a clone born on Kamino like the rest of the clone army, it’s explained that she’s the result of a genetic mutation even more extreme than the ones displayed by the members of the Bad Batch. For one thing, she’s a girl while the rest of the clones are all male. How could that be? After all, the Kaminoans used the DNA of Jango Fett, a male Mandalorian, as the template for its clones. Unlike the other clones, Omega is also blond.
Stream your Star Wars favorites right here!
Unsurprisingly, Star Wars fans have spent a lot of time speculating about Omega’s origin and her purpose. Some wondered if her name means she’s the final clone, a theory debunked in the very first episode, which shows the cloners still hard at work at creating more soldiers for the Empire. Others speculated that perhaps she was an early attempt to create a clone of Emperor Palpatine, but that’s just been debunked, too.
In fact, “Bounty Lost” solves the whole mystery. We learn that Omega is actually 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.”
But what does this all mean?
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 template 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. The Empire see these mutations as diminishing returns, and the fact that the clones are designed to age much faster than natural-born humans mean that this army will soon be obsolete, anyway. As Admiral Tarkin makes clear in the first episode, this is why the Empire is considering doing away with its clone army altogether, instead building a new army of conscripts and volunteers at half the cost.
Kamino prime minister Lama Su doesn’t want to lose the Empire’s business, which is why he’s determined to get Omega back. 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 its line of Jango Fett clones to their purest form. Lama Su believes this will put his cloning facility back in the Empire’s good graces.
This is why 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 before anyone else discovers the secret of her origin. But chief medical scientist Nala Se, one of the key engineers of the clone army, has other plans. She’s grown close to Omega and wants to protect her, so she hires Fennec Shand to intercept Cad Bane and free Omega.
Indeed, Fennec is able to distract Bane long enough for Omega to escape the planet of Bora Vio on a flying pot and regroup with the Bad Batch. For now, Omega is safe, but it’s clear Bane isn’t done chasing her.
It remains to be seen what Omega’s origin means for the show’s future. “Bounty Lost” ends with Hunter and the rest of the Bad Batch telling her the truth about where she comes from and why she’s different from the rest of the clones. Could knowing that she’s secretly another member of the Fett line motivate her to seek out her brother Boba? That would certainly be one interesting family reunion.
