Since the release of The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 7, one of the major talking points has been Moff Gideon’s new Beskar-armored Supercommando troopers. Hints from the Star Wars series suggest that they may actually be Clones of the Imperial leader, Gideon, but is that truly possible?
After his capture, Moff Gideon was absent for much of Season 3, but he still had a major presence from the confines of his prison. Gideon had loyal servants who would carry out his bidding from the shadows, as seen with Imperial Officer Elia Kane, framing Dr. Pershing and wiping his mind in the third episode.
While his motive in keeping cloning secrets was initially hard to decipher, more and more has been revealed about Gideon’s grand plans with the Empire and the Shadow Council. Since the great purge of Mandalore, he has established a major imperial base there and seems to have been working on building an army as well as upgrading the Dark Trooper suits.
Are the Supercommandos Gideon clones?
Beskar Armor and Mandalore
Staging his Imperial base on Mandalore was a clever move, with many believing that the planet had been cursed and afraid to return there. With the Mines of Mandalore nearby for a supply of Beskar and being able to scavenge more from the fallen Mandalorians, Moff Gideon had all he needed to repurpose the precious material for his own designs.
When the ambush of Bo-Katan’s scouting party happened in episode 7, Gideon revealed this new armor but also hinted something fascinating about the Beskar armored Supercommandos that accompanied him. He claimed that “it has me in it” referring to the troops, which caused many to speculate that they may be his clones.
These commandos were much more efficient than regular Stormtroopers that we had seen before, as they were able to hold their own against the incredibly skilled Mandalorian forces for a brief period when the ambush first took place.
Gideon cloning chamber and Shadow council
There is plenty of evidence to support the new Imperial commandos being clones of Gideon as well. One such example is after Elia Kane’s transmission in the opening scene. We see Gideon passing multiple cloning chambers in the Mandalore base, on his way to the briefing with the Shadow Council.
During the council meeting, the imperial remnant leaders discuss the future of the Empire and each of the projects that they are working on, such as Project Necromancer and Captain Pellaeon’s work for Thrawn. However, despite Gideon’s fascination with Grogu and Pershing’s work in earlier seasons, he seemed quite dismissive of the cloning projects in front of other Imperial leaders.
Gideon claimed that he had no interest in cloning, but based on his lies about Dr. Pershing’s capture, it’s clear that he has much grander ambitions to take over the Empire and is keeping some big secrets. Having an army of Beskar-wearing clone warriors, each with his tactical prowess could be a threat to the entire galaxy.
The Mandalorians were scattered and in disarray when Gideon first began his cloning work on this base but, perhaps his new army was ultimately being built to defeat Grand Admiral Thrawn, with rumors swirling about his return from the New Beyond. As for now, we will have to wait for the season finale to learn more about these mysterious commandos and Gideon’s ambitions.