Credit: LucasfilmThe three-episode premiere of Star Wars: The Bad Batch has arrived, and so far, it’s promising to be the most emotional — and tragic — season yet. While many lingering questions from Season 2 remain unanswered, Episode 3, “Shadows of Tantiss,” might’ve just solved one of the show’s biggest mysteries, and it involves Omega (Michelle Ang).
Warning! Spoilers ahead for The Bad Batch Season 3.
The Bad Batch Season 3, which will also serve as the series’ conclusion, debuted on Disney+ today to rave reviews from critics and fans alike. Picking up shortly after that heartbreaking Season 2 cliffhanger, the new episodes of The Bad Batch follow Omega and Crosshair (Dee Bradley Baker) during their imprisonment at the cloning facility on Mount Tantiss, as well as their eventual escape.
Episode 2, “Paths Unknown,” also provided us with an update on the whereabouts of Hunter and Wrecker, now the only two remaining members of Clone Force 99. But more interesting, perhaps, was the unexpected twist at the end of Episode 3, which finally revealed why exactly the Galactic Empire was so dead set on capturing Omega.
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It’s not exactly a secret that The Bad Batch is attempting to build a bridge between the Star Wars: The Clone Wars era and the Sequel Trilogy, as previous episodes have hinted at “Project Necromancer,” AKA Emperor Palpatine’s (Ian McDiarmid) contingency plan of creating a Force-sensitive clone of himself to, essentially, live forever.
The result of Project Necromancer was, of course, Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis), and the Palpatine 2.0 featured in the closing moments of Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker (2019). But Omega might have been instrumental in getting there, as The Bad Batch just confirmed that the unaltered Jango Fett clone is, in fact, Force-sensitive.
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You see, while under the watchful gaze of Dr. Hemlock (Jimmi Simpson) on Mount Tantiss, Dr. Emerie Karr (Keisha Castle-Hughes), another female clone, manages to test a sample of Omega’s blood despite Nala Se’s (Gwendoline Yeo) best attempts to prevent it.
As Omega’s results appear on screen, we learn that she has a substantially higher M-count (midi-chlorian count) than her clone brothers, suggesting that she has a natural aptitude for the Force. Although this doesn’t necessarily mean that Omega will pick up a lightsaber anytime soon, it does align with George Lucas’ belief that anyone can yield the Force, so long as they’re trained.
Season 1 of Dave Filoni’s Ahsoka show, which debuted on Disney+ last year, saw a similar trajectory with Star Wars Rebels’ Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo), who, despite having a low M-count, managed to harness the powers of the Force in the finale.
Now, with Omega potentially being a latent Force-sensitive, it seems like Disney and Lucasfilm are turning more and more characters into Jedi, similar to Grogu’s arc in The Mandalorian. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing — especially in the case of Omega and Baby Yoda, as they were born with natural abilities — it does dilute the severity of Order 66, where most, if not all, Force-users became targets of the Empire.
Of course, at the height of the Jedi Order, tens of thousands of individuals across the galaxy could harness the Force, meaning it was always impossible for the Empire to wipe them out of existence entirely. But with Omega falling victim to the somewhat exhausted trope of someone discovering they’re Force-sensitive, The Bad Batch takes away from what makes her special: her empathy.
This new revelation also seems to debunk the theory that the Kaminoans’ primary interest in Omega was her genetic purity, being an unaltered clone of her bounty hunter template. With the cloning facility on Tipoca City destroyed, cloning researchers are without a copy of Jango Fett’s DNA strain, meaning if they want to create more clones, Omega is the only source.
It is important to note that many have speculated that Omega is Force-sensitive since the first season of The Bad Batch premiered in 2021, as there have been some not-so-subtle hints that she was essential to the Emperor’s ultimate plan all along. Omega has always been different from the get-go, and her being the first clone whose body does not reject midi-chlorians does explain the Empire’s extensive efforts to capture her for experimentation.
Ultimately, it’s hard to tell if The Bad Batch is preparing to introduce a Jedi-like Omega to the Star Wars galaxy or if she simply has higher compatibility with midi-chlorians thanks to her unusual DNA. Either way, we already know that Palpatine and the Shadow Council succeed in their efforts to create a Force-sensitive clone, meaning it’s only a matter of time until we discover Omega’s fate.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 3, Episodes 1-3, are available now on Disney+.
Are you interested in seeing a Force-sensitive Omega, or does this take away from her character? Let us know in the comments below!