Star Wars: Every Clone Who Avoided Order 66 Programming

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The Clone Troopers of the Star Wars prequel trilogy succumbed to their programming, wiping out most of the Jedi during Order 66 and ushering in the Galactic Empire, but many clones avoided this through various means. In both canon and the original timeline, Legends (formerly called the Expanded Universe), Clone Troopers were subjected to brainwashing, leaving them with programmed behaviors that lay dormant until Order 66 was issued. Once activated, the clones would not only turn on their Jedi leaders (who were their personal friends more often than not), but their personalities would change as well. Order 66 and the Sith coup that overthrew the Republic was secretly the true purpose of the Clone Army.

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Clone Troopers of all ranks and specialties constantly proved that their genetic modifications and behavioral conditioning on Kamino weren’t enough to suppress their free will. Clone Troopers typically replaced their numerical designations with names, befriended their brethren, and, in canon, often personalized their appearances underneath their armor. Some clones even began romantic relationships with Jedi or civilians, and in rare cases, deserted the Republic or committed treason against it. The clones’ brainwashing, however, completely overrode their free will and ensured the success of Darth Sidious’s machinations.

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While several notable clones disobeyed Order 66, not all of them did so because they consciously avoided their programming. In canon, Captain Rex initially followed Order 66 but had his implant removed by Ahsoka Tano, restoring his free will. The trooper Tup had his malfunctioning control chip removed as well, at the cost of his life. The Rebel clones Wolffe and Gregor removed their chips as well, but it’s unclear if they followed Order 66 beforehand. In the now-ambiguously canonical Star Wars: Kanan comic, Commander Grey manages to temporarily resist his implant while it was activated (with great mental effort). The Legends-era ARC Troopers simply weren’t modified outside of growth acceleration, so most of them disobeyed Order 66.

Fives

The veteran ARC Trooper Fives was one of the first people to discover the Clone Army’s control chips. When his friend Tup lost control of himself and murdered Jedi Master Tiplar (with no memory of doing so afterward), Fives secretly began investigating the incident. His findings led him to discover the chips’ (and the Clone Army’s) true purpose from Palpatine himself. Fives was killed shortly after this, but he managed to remove his control chip while on Kamino, effectively avoiding his programming if he’d lived to see Order 66 executed. Fives’ discovery of the chips directly contributed to the removal of Rex’s implant (and potentially helped other clones), so his death was not in vain.

Kix

It’s unclear if Clone Medic Kix removed his control chip, but he privately researched the implants after Fives’ death, leading him to discover their purpose as well. Palpatine and Dooku had Kix kidnapped and placed in suspended animation rather than assassinating him. Kix avoided becoming brainwashed, but his abduction prevented him from interfering with the coup. Kix was discovered and reanimated during the war between the Resistance and First Order around the time of the Star Wars sequel trilogy, making him possibly one of the only clones alive in that era. As part of Sidon Ithano’s pirate crew, Kix may have fought in the Battle of Exegol alongside Resistance forces.

The Bad Batch

Experimental Clone Force 99, nicknamed “The Bad Batch,” was made up of clone commandos with unique mutations that rendered each squad member a clone super-soldier. An unintended side effect of their mutations was that the Bad Batch members were mostly immune to their control chips. Towards the end of the Clone Wars, the standard clone Echo joined their ranks, and his cybernetic reconstruction left him similarly immune to his programming. Their newest member, Omega, is a female clone of Jango Fett who appears to not have undergone growth acceleration and is also unaffected by her implant. The squad’s sniper, Crosshair, is the lone exception to this, as his free will was overtaken by his implant, which was strengthened under Admiral Tarkin’s orders.

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Cut Lawquane

Cut Lawquane deserted the Republic army early in the Clone Wars, becoming a husband and father on the Outer Rim world of Saleucami. Naturally, he avoided his program because he was no longer part of the Clone Army when Order 66 was issued. Cut does, however, still have his control chip implant, which Rex warned him about shortly after the Empire supplanted the Republic. It’s unknown what Cut did with this information, but it’s fair to assume that he either removed his chip or has plans to remove it by the time he appears in Star Wars: The Bad Batch. If he doesn’t, Cut is at risk for potentially becoming an Imperial pawn, if his programming was activated.

Omega And Yayax Squads (Legends)

The Legends-era Clone Commandos were generally similar to standard Clone Troopers, albeit with more advanced equipment. Like their standard brothers, they received special forms of indoctrination to ensure their compliance with Order 66. Despite this, two particular squads managed to avoid their programming: Omega Squad and Yayax Squad. Both squads overcame their brainwashing for similar reasons. Omega Squad was close with their training sergeant, the Mandalorian warrior Kal Skirata, and the squad’s demolitions expert was in a romantic relationship with a Jedi. The clones of Yayax Squad were also influenced by Skirata, deserting the Empire and devoting themselves to his Mandalorian Clan when Order 66 was given.

HOB-147

A standard Clone Pilot whose V-19 Torrent was destroyed in battle, HOB-147 was left stranded and injured in deep space when the scavenger Hurd Coyle rescued him. 147 was not present for Order 66’s execution or the Sith coup, only hearing about them from Coyle during his recovery. 147 was not the only guest aboard Coyle’s vessel. The scavenger was also harboring Jedi younglings, taking them to the Outer Rim to escape the fledgling Empire. By the time the ship was boarded by brainwashed Imperial Clone Troopers, HOB-147 had become fond of Coyle and the Jedi fugitives, allowing him to override his programming and convince the other clones not to search the vessel.

Able

Able-1707 was a standard Clone Trooper who became stranded on Lubang Minor early in the Clone Wars, surviving in the wild until being discovered by Luke Skywalker during the Galactic Civil War. Able was completely unaware of Order 66 and the rise of the Galactic Empire, but he strongly believed in the Republic’s ideology, like many clones did, so he voluntarily joined the Rebellion. Able’s belief in democracy and decades of surviving on his own allowed him to avoid his Order 66 programming and act on his own free will, as so few clones ultimately did in the Star Wars saga.

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