Although it was initially touted as a new story completely unrelated to the Skywalkers, The Mandalorian has since become a great vehicle to collate a bunch of existing Star Wars lore. It’s been used as a springboard to launch Ahsoka’s post-Rebels adventures, Boba Fett’s canonical resurrection, and the return of a more familiar Luke Skywalker. In future seasons, the show can also address an unresolved mystery from the prequels that’s been bugging fans for years.
In Attack of the Clones, George Lucas set up an intriguing mystery surrounding Kamino’s cloning operations. Obi-Wan found the planet missing from the Jedi Archives, then discovered that they were creating a clone army for the Republic on the orders of Sifo-Dyas, a Jedi who died years earlier. However, during the writing process for Episode III, Lucas decided to drop this storyline in order to focus on Anakin’s turn to the dark side.
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While this might have been the right decision for Revenge of the Sith and probably ultimately made it a stronger movie, it is a shame that Kamino’s mysteries were never explained. Throughout The Mandalorian, the Imperial Remnants have been experimenting with cloning technology. It’s unclear exactly what’s going on, but Moff Gideon has seemingly hired clone engineer Dr. Pershing to use Grogu’s blood as the Jango Fett-style template for a clone army of dark side Force users.
The mystery of Kamino certainly isn’t the only unresolved storyline from the prequel trilogy. The movies didn’t elaborate on the “chosen one” prophecy or bring closure to Padmé’s political career or show Qui-Gon’s Force ghost or reveal the identity of Anakin’s biological father. But none of these need to be resolved as desperately as the Kamino storyline. The army was a crucial factor in Palpatine’s masterplan and it was commissioned by a Jedi who died under mysterious circumstances and the planet where it was being created was erased from the Jedi’s library. All these questions need to be answered, and The Mandalorian can answer them.
Unlike the sequel trilogy, The Mandalorian isn’t afraid to embrace the prequel era. The show has included references to Gungans, pit droids, and the “high ground.” The fact that it’s even mentioned cloning is a huge win for fans who are sick of the prequel era being vilified, but its inclusion as a major point in Grogu’s arc presents The Mandalorian with an opportunity to really dig into this aspect of the Star Wars mythos, beyond a mere wink to the audience.
In “Chapter 12: The Siege,” during an Imperial base infiltration, Mando stumbled across ominous evidence of a cloning operation seeking Force-sensitive DNA with a high “M-count,” with Grogu being the ideal candidate. In the season 2 finale, “Chapter 16: The Rescue,” Moff Gideon noted that they’d already extracted Grogu’s blood, which was all they needed him for. While Gideon himself has been captured by Mando, that blood sample might’ve already gotten into the hands of somebody who knows what to do with it. And just because Grogu has gone to train with Luke, it doesn’t mean the Imperial Remnants will leave the kid alone. Mando might’ve successfully saved the kid and gotten him back to his people, but this storyline is still far from over.
The fact that the remains of the Empire are the ones behind the cloning operation – paired with the fact that they specifically want a Force-sensitive clone – suggests a link to Emperor Palpatine’s mysterious resurrection in The Rise of Skywalker. The best that The Rise of Skywalker could do to explain Palpatine’s reanimation is: “Dark science, cloning, secrets only the Sith knew.” It’s vaguely suggested that it was cloning that brought Palpatine back, although his appearance is so zombie-like and decrepit in the movie that he seems to be in his original body. The Mandalorian’s exploration of this plot point can flesh out exactly how Palpatine came back from the dead, who helped him do it, and why it makes sense.
After Boba Fett’s triumphant return to action in “Chapter 14: The Tragedy,” he showed Mando a hologram proving that his father was a foundling. For their clone template, the Kaminoans effectively picked someone who’s just like Din Djarin himself: a bounty hunter who was adopted by Mandalorian warriors as a child. Given Mando’s interest in Mandalorian history, he’d undoubtedly be interested in getting to the bottom of a dead Jedi’s request to copy a Mandalorian a million times to give an army to a budding dictator.
Going into its third season, The Mandalorian is dealing with Mando’s possession of the Darksaber and the obstacle it presents in Bo-Katan’s quest to reclaim Mandalore. The show might also depict Grogu’s training with Luke on-screen. For the time being, the cloning storyline will be taking a backseat. But at some point in the future, The Mandalorian should use its ties to the secrets of cloning to finally explain the incomplete Jedi Archives and dig into Kamino’s history and the disappearance of Sifo-Dyas.
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