Lama Su is the subject of this week’s Star Wars Character Spotlight. The Kaminoan was the Prime Minister of Kamino, and thus the prime liaison with the Republic when it came to overseeing production of their clone army.
Under his leadership, the Kaminoans were considered the best cloners in the galaxy, though Su only considered clones tools to be used and discarded, rather than living beings with their own rights. He possessed few morals but did seem to care for Kamino,. Ironically, the Clone Wars ultimately led to his people’s doom.
Developing a clone army
At some point between The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones, Lama Su was approached by Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas. He had a vision that the Republic needed a clone army and was manipulated by Count Dooku (Darth Tyranus) into approaching the Kaminoans.
He spoke with Lama Su on behalf of the Republic – despite not having permission to do so – and commissioned the Grand Army of the Republic. Soon after this, Sifo-Dyas was captured and killed by the Pykes, and Darth Tyranus became Lama Su’s new liaison, pretending to be a Jedi.
Tyranus provided the genetic template for the clones – a bounty hunter called Jango Fett – and the Kaminoans cracked on with creating a clone army, believing that they were working for the Republic.
Attack of the Clones
Lama Su’s first appearance is in Attack of the Clones, when Obi-Wan visits Tipoca City to learn about the mysterious assassin who killed the bounty hunter attempting to murder Padmé. Lama Su assumed that Obi-Wan had arrived to check in on the progress of the clone army; Obi-Wan had no idea such a thing existed, but played along regardless. When Obi-Wan told him that Sifo-Dyas died many years ago, Lama Su expressed his condolences but immediately returned to matters of business, showing him the army himself.
He gave Obi-Wan a grand tour of the cloning facilities and had Taun We introduce him to Jango Fett. That is the extent of Lama Su’s appearances in Star Wars films, as Obi-Wan soon left the planet pursuing Fett.
The Clone Wars
Lama Su appears a few more times in animation. He next appeared in Season 3 of The Clone Wars, where he encouraged Shaak Ti to find a new source of genetic material to clone from.
With Jango Fett dead since the beginning of the war, Su was struggling to find ways to maintain the quality of cloning with what DNA they had left. He had no choice but to stretch the remaining samples and find alternative cloning methods to keep the production line moving and continue producing top quality clones.
One of these alternative methods produced Domino Squad, a group of clones who were considered beneath the standard required to serve on the front lines for the Republic. Lama Su recommended the squad be terminated, but Shaak Ti refused as they were still living beings.
Su admonished her for being too compassionate, but it was a good thing he obeyed the Jedi’s wisdom. Two members of that team included Fives and Echo, both of whom went on to have long and successful careers in the Republic (though one had a much happier ending than the other).
In the following episode, the Separatists launched an ambitious attack on Kamino to destroy the cloning facilities and Jango Fett’s DNA, aiming to stop the production of clone troopers. Lama Su positioned himself in the command centre for the battle as Shaak Ti, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker led the planet’s defence from General Grievous and Asajj Ventress’ forces.
Lama Su didn’t appear again until Season 6, when the clone trooper Tup’s biochip malfunctioned and accidentally activated Order 66, resulting in him killing Jedi Master Tiplar on the battlefield. Upon discovering what had happened, he immediately contacted Darth Tyranus for help containing knowledge of Order 66.
Perhaps at this point, Lama Su was fully aware of the Sith’s involvement in creating the clone army, or perhaps he believed the intelligence was only for “Lord Tyranus”, who had introduced himself as a Jedi.
Either way, he instructed his chief scientist Nala Se to remove the biochip and have it sent to Tyranus before anyone else could discover its true purpose.
The Bad Batch
Lama Su doesn’t appear again until after the war is over, in The Bad Batch animated series. He appeared multiple times in Season 1, first in the show’s premiere as he showed Governor Tarkin around Tipoca City with Taun We.
He discovered early on that Tarkin didn’t see the need to keep producing clone troopers, with the war over and the galaxy now at peace. Su argued that surely the Empire would need more clone troopers than ever if they were to constantly keep the peace across multiple star systems, but Tarkin felt that a cheaper solution could do the job just as well.
When Tarkin revealed he was looking at transitioning to regular conscription soldiers, Lama Su argued that no conscripted soldier would ever be as effective as his clones. In an effort to win Tarkin over, he called in Clone Force 99 for a live demonstration. Though they were “defective” clones, they were the best he had to offer.
When Tarkin proposed using live ammunition, Su protested in case they “damaged” the clones and the training facility, but both made it through the test unharmed. Tarkin was still not impressed though, noting that Clone Force 99 had a history of disobeying direct orders, revealing that they had failed to carry out Order 66 by letting Jedi Caleb Dume escape.
Tarkin sent the clones on another mission to kill Saw Gerrera, but was vague on the identity of the target to test their loyalty. That ultimately ended in the squad disobeying orders and letting Gerrera go and then defecting from the Empire altogether, taking the female clone Omega with them.
Recovering Omega
While the Empire knew that Clone Force 99 had defected, Su refrained from mentioning Omega’s defection also. He wasn’t sure what the Empire intended to do with Kamino once they no longer had need of their services, so wanted to limit the amount of bad news he needed to deliver. It’s unclear if he knew about Omega’s M-count or not.
Soon, Vice Admiral Rampart arrived on Kamino with an “elite” squad consisting of regular soldiers, to be led by the remaining loyal member of Clone Force 99, Crosshair. Lama Su once again protested that these new soldiers would never be as skilled as clones, though Rampart argued that the same skills could be taught to regular people who voluntarily served the Empire, rather than being programmed.
Realizing that the Rampart and Tarkin’s minds were made up, Lama Su told Nala Se that they would have to create a superior clone to have any chance of winning them over. In order to do that, they needed access to either Omega or the Bad Batch.
When Crosshair reported that he had found Clone Force 99 on Bracca, Lama Su immediately requested that they be brought in alive so they could be reprogrammed. He argued that they would be useful assets, but Rampart claimed he had no need for “rogue clones”. Su was disappointed when Rampart ordered Crosshair to kill them.
At some point around this time, Lama Su hired Cad Bane to retrieve Omega. He presumably told the bounty hunter that she was located on Bracca, and Bane succeeded in extracting her. He contacted Su and demanded extra payment for capturing her alive, with Su warning that he needed to keep her that way if he wanted to get paid at all.
He sent Taun We to a secret location on Bora Vio, an abandoned Kaminoan cloning lab, to pay the bounty hunter and pick up Omega. However, Su was unaware that Nala Se had also hired bounty hunter Fennec Shand to keep Omega safe from the Empire; the two bounty hunters fought and Taun We was killed. Omega escaped.
Destruction of Tipoca City
Unable to retrieve Omega and resigned to the fact that Kamino’s relationship with the Empire was at an end, Lama Su planned to evacuate Nala Se and other essential personnel so that they could continue their cloning business elsewhere. The Empire was confiscating Kaminoan cloning equipment and taking it offworld, so it was clear that they did not want the Kaminoan business to continue.
Nala Se was captured and Rampart asked Lama Su what was happening, but the Prime Minister feigned ignorance, claiming that Nala Se’s actions were her own. Rampart revealed that while Nala Se still held value as a top scientist for the Empire, he had no need for a politician and arrested him.
Lama Su was sent to prison on Coruscant, meaning he survived the bombardment and destruction of Tipoca City, but the Kaminoans had been all-but exterminated. Going into business with the Republic had gotten them killed.
Visiting Mount Tantiss
Lama Su’s latest appearance comes in Season 2 of The Bad Batch, when he was summoned to Mount Tantiss by Imperial scientist Doctor Royce Hemlock. Hemlock was having trouble persuading Nala Se to work for him on Project Necromancer, which aimed to produce Force sensitive clones for the Emperor.
After Lama Su gloated that Hemlock lacked Kaminoan intelligence and expertise when it came to cloning, he agreed to help convince Nala Se to work for the scientist in exchange for his own freedom.
Hemlock agreed, and Lama Su revealed that if he was able to reacquire Omega, the Empire could use the girl as a bargaining chip as Nala Se was protective of her. That threat worked and Nala Se began to cooperate.
What next?
Lama Su is never seen again after that, so it’s unclear if he was genuinely granted his freedom or if he was secretly killed. The latter seems more likely, as the Empire wouldn’t want him exposing all the secrets he was privy to. We have no way of knowing for sure.
If he’s alive, it’s possible we could see Lama Su again whenever Lucasfilm decides to finally tell us what happened in the fight for clone rights. Perhaps the man who ordered their creation would have a small part to play there, but otherwise it seems unlikely that we’ll ever see him again.
Josh is a huge Star Wars fan, who has spent far too much time wondering if any Star Wars character could defeat Thanos with all the Infinity Stones.