Can Clone Troopers Have Children?

The latest episode of Star Wars: The Bad Batch features a clone trooper with a family and it raises the question: can clones have children? Now airing on Disney+, The Bad Batch is the newest animated series from Lucasfilm. It’s set almost immediately following the events of Star Wars: The Clone Wars and focuses on the titular Bad Batch, aka Clone Force 99. This group of mutated clones aren’t swayed by Order 66 and soon find themselves on the run from the Empire, fighting against their clone brothers – including one of their own, Crosshair.

Looking to lie low, Hunter, Echo, Tech, Wrecker, and Omega travel to Saleucami in search of a clone trooper who deserted years prior and has been successfully evading discovery, first from the Republic and now the Empire. His name is Cut Lawquane, and along with his wife, Suu, a Twi’lek, they’ve been living in relative peace with their two children, Shaeeah and Jek. Though the children are Twi’lek-human hybrids, it was confirmed following their introduction on The Clone Wars that they are not Cut’s biological children. Still, the fact that there exists a clone who is raising a family begs the question – is it possible for a clone to reproduce?

Within Star Wars Legends, the non-canon stories of the pre-Disney era, there exists a couple of examples of clones having children. One is Darman Skirata, aka RC-1136, a clone commando who falls in love with a Jedi, Etain Tur-Mukan, who bears him a son. Etain is killed during Order 66 and Darman goes on to join the Empire, but he eventually defects to raise his son on Mandalore. Another example from Legends is the clone trooper Nate, aka CT-96/298, who while on a mission to Ord Cestus, meets and falls in love with a freedom fighter, Sheeka Tull. Sadly, Nate would perish before learning that Sheeka is pregnant with their child. In official Star Wars canon, there is far less evidence for clones having children, but it still exists. In the novel, Force Collector, there is a junk shop merchant on Utapau named Sconto who claims his father was a clone trooper. Given this, it certainly seems possible for clones to have children, but without any confirmation of Sconto’s parentage, it’s hard to say for sure.

While the clones are duplicates of Jango Fett, they’ve all been modified by the Kaminoans to some degree. In the case of the Bad Batch, these modifications are extreme, altering their appearance and enhancing certain skills, but even regular clones are modified to be less aggressive and more compliant than their original template. With this in mind, it’s entirely possible the Kaminoans also modified the clones to decrease their sexual urges, wanting them focused solely on their duties as soldiers and nothing else. And if that were the case, it’s just as believable the Kaminoans could have modified their clones to be infertile as they wouldn’t have any need for the clones to reproduce naturally. As Cut says to Hunter when discussing Omega, “the Kaminoans don’t create without a purpose,” and it’s unlikely they’d see a purpose in creating clones who could procreate.

Then again, the Kaminoans may have little concern over the reproductive abilities of their clones, relying more on their conditioning and training to keep them in line. If this is the case, and the clones are basically intact, then it’s less about clones being unable to have children and more that their lifestyle doesn’t lead to it. This could explain why clones having children has been such a rare occurrence in both Legends and official Star Wars canon – it’s not impossible, but the life of a clone so rarely lends itself to settling down and starting a family. This is part of what makes Cut so unique, because even though his children are not his biologically, he still desired having a family over returning to the army. In which case, it really may not be matter of whether clones can or cannot have children, but if they can change their outlook to one where they want to.

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Sarah Moran
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Sarah Moran is a news editor for Screen Rant and has been contributing to the site since 2014. She primarily writes features and covers the ongoing development of current movies and television shows. Sarah is a graduate of THE Ohio State University where she earned her B.A. in Film Studies in 2009.

Sarah’s favorite movies range from studio era classics to the latest sci-fi and superhero blockbusters. Her favorite TV shows are animated, and she’s always up to watch a documentary. Sarah spends her free time playing too many video games and proudly supporting the Columbus Crew, the greatest team the world has ever seen.

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