Warning! This article contains SPOILERS for The Bad Batch season 3.

Summary

• The Bad Batch season 3 could be key to Rey's backstory, tying in with Palpatine's cloning experiments.
• The Empire's cloning failure, due to Omega's escape, leads to Rey's father's existence and the galaxy's fate.
• The events of The Bad Batch play a crucial role in setting up Rey's birth and Palpatine's ultimate demise.

A new and shocking Star Wars theory sets up Project Necromancer, which features Palpatine's resurrection from his death at the hands of Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi.

The Rise of Skywalker changed how audiences view the entire Star Wars timeline, with new lore surrounding the Sith and the Emperor reshaping lots of it. One core element added is that Rey is actually the biological granddaughter of Palpatine. Rey's father, Dathan, was a clone of Palpatine, making her the heir to his Sith legacy. Thus, as The Bad Batch continues to explore the Empire's efforts regarding cloning, it seems like the events of the animated series are building directly into Rey's complicated backstory.

The Bad Batch Season 3 Is Setting Up Palpatine's Cloning Experiments

As revealed in the first and third episodes of The Bad Batch season 3, the Imperial facility at Mount Tantiss's true purpose seems to be the creation of Force sensitive clones. According to Palpatine, this cloning is essential to the future and continuation of the Empire. There's been a continual emphasis on the clones' and donors' M-counts, which refers to midi-chlorians, microorganisms that indicate one's potential power level in the Force. The episode "Shadows of Tantiss" showed that a test of Omega's blood was positive, meaning it can be mixed with high M-count blood with no degradation.

Star Wars Has Now Explained Why The Empire Made A Palpatine Clone Without The Force

This would be perfect for creating what is probably Palpatine's clone body, which he could transfer his spirit into following a possible death. Because of Omega's and Crosshair's daring escape from Tantiss, however, it's unlikely the Empire will get any more of her genetic material to create this clone. This means the Empire will have to continue trying to create a Force-sensitive clone, and will, of course, keep failing.

The Empire still has to fail at using Omega's blood to successfully make a Force-sensitive clone of Palpatine.

This failure is incredibly important to the overall Star Wars timeline, as one of these failures later escapes, lives on his own, falls in love, and has a daughter. Rey's father, Dathan, was treated poorly and ran away from Palpatine because he wasn't Force-sensitive. This means that, even with the resources being used by Dr. Hemlock in The Bad Batch season 3, the Empire still has to fail at using Omega's blood to successfully make a Force-sensitive clone of Palpatine.

Palpatine Force-Less Clone Will Be Rey's Father

This means that the Emperor's cloning efforts being challenged by Clone Force 99 are actually core to Rey's backstory, and through that, the eventual fate of the galaxy. The Bad Batch saves Omega and botches the efforts at Tantiss, stalling the operation for a time. This means the Empire has to continue working with more challenges, leading to Dathan's creation.

Dathan is not Force-sensitive, due to the Empire's failure in losing Omega. Thus, Dathan is neglected by Palpatine, which causes him to run away - leading to Rey's birth and later the final destruction of Palpatine in The Rise of Skywalker. All of this core backstory leading up to Rey's birth will thus be set in motion because of the actions of The Bad Batch, and their rescue of Omega.

Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 3, episodes 1-4 are available now on Disney+. Future episodes release Wednesdays at 12:00 a.m. PT, 3:00 a.m. ET, and 8:00 a.m. GMT.