The seventh episode of season 3 of The Mandalorian allowed us to meet the Shadow Council and the people behind it. Of course, while the meeting between the council members was more in line with Gideon’s problems regarding the Mandalorians, we also discovered a secret project that the Imperial remnants were working on. This was called Project Necromancer. But what is it exactly?
Project Necromancer is likely a secret project that is meant to find a way to bring back Emperor Palpatine from the dead or, at the very least, find a way to clone the emperor. Or it could be something related to bringing a Force-sensitive person back from the dead to serve as Palpatine’s proxy.
At this point, it is incredibly difficult to tell what the Empire has been planning and what could be up the sleeves of the people working on different projects related to the future of the Empire and the rise of the First Order. But we know that everything the Imperial remnants are working on relates to the events of the sequel trilogy. Now, let’s discuss some theories regarding Project Necromancer.
Project Necromancer Theories
If something has always been known about the Empire in Star Wars, it is that the different officers working for the emperor all have different projects they oversee. The Empire also loves naming these projects using names that are related to what these projects are. For example, we know that Project Starfall was the project that oversaw the creation of the Death Star.
Episode 7 of The Mandalorian season 3 allowed us to learn the name of another project. This happened during the scene wherein Moff Gideon met up with the other members of the Shadow Council and discussed their plans regarding the Empire’s future and the actions they were planning to undertake against the New Republic. One such person that was called to discuss this project was Commandant Hux, who oversaw Project Necromancer. So, what is Project Necromancer?
At this point, we don’t know much about what Project Necromancer is and what the Empire plans to do with this project. The only thing that we know is that Hux is the one overseeing this project.
Then again, we also know that all of the actions that the Imperial remnants are taking in the timeline of The Mandalorian are connected to the sequel movies, which are said to have a lot of plot holes that need to be filled up. We believe that Project Necromancer is related to one of the plot holes we saw in the sequel trilogy. Now, let’s look at some of our theories regarding Project Necromancer.
It Aims to Bring Back Sidious
The first thing that comes to mind when it comes to what Project Necromancer could be all about is that it might be related to Darth Sidious and his eventual return. We know that Emperor Palpatine died when Darth Vader threw him into the shaft of Death Star II. The emperor died along with his Sith persona, Darth Sidious. But we all know that the Sith emperor returned during the events of the sequel trilogy, where he revealed himself in Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker.
In The Rise of Skywalker, he was simply a husk of a man with a body that was deformed and unable to properly move on its own. Moreover, Palpatine was significantly weaker then and needed to siphon the power of the Dyad to regain his powers and become even more powerful than he ever was. And it is possible that he was brought back to life through Project Necromancer.
As the name suggests, Project Necromancer is likely related to the resurrection of a person important to the Empire. A necromancer can manipulate the dead and bring them back to life as the undead, which is probably what this project wants to achieve about an important person. The Empire wouldn’t want to waste time trying to bring someone back from the dead if this person wasn’t important. As such, there’s a good chance that this project aims to bring the emperor back so that it solves the plot hole of how Palpatine was able to return in Episode IX.
Then again, it is important to note that Palpatine’s body was likely vaporized when he died in the second Death Star because he was thrown into a shaft that led directly to the main reactor. So, his body was destroyed when the main reactor and the Death Star II exploded. That means the Imperial remnants wouldn’t have a way to return him from the dead without his body.
In that regard, there’s still the matter regarding the Imperial remnants’ cloning projects. As such, it is possible that Palpatine was not brought back from the dead but was merely cloned using some of the genetic material he left behind before he died.
Its Goal Is to Resurrect the Dead
Again, it wouldn’t be called Project Necromancer if it didn’t aim to bring someone back from the dead. We know that Palpatine was successfully brought back in the sequel trilogy, although he probably wasn’t brought back from the dead but was likely cloned. So, if that’s the case, who is Project Necromancer trying to bring back?
The first two sequel movies allowed us to meet Supreme Leader Snoke, the leader of the First Order, and the man responsible for pulling Ben Solo over to the dark side. But in Episode IX, it was revealed that he served as a proxy for Palpatine because the emperor was likely too weak to lead the First Order. And we know that the First Order rose from the Imperial remnants we met in The Mandalorian.
Snoke once said that he was there during the rise and fall of the Empire, and that means that he was someone who witnessed everything that happened during the Skywalker Saga before he died in Star Wars Episode VIII. But Snoke was revealed to be an artificial creation, as there were other “Snokes” in the tanks in Exegol in Episode IX.
So, because Snoke was never born naturally because he was merely a creation, it is likely that he was someone who had been brought back from the dead and was given a new identity. After all, Snoke was a powerful Force user that had power that surpassed Kylo Ren and Rey before his death. And that would mean he might have been a Jedi before being brought back from the dead to become Snoke.
One clue in episode 7 of The Mandalorian season 3 was noticeable during an exchange between Gideon and the Shadow Council. Gideon doubted Grand Admiral Thrawn’s return and told the council to decide on a new leader. That was when Hux interrupted him by saying that Project Necromancer was in place for that. This could mean that the product of Project Necromancer is supposed to be the new leader of the Imperial remnants, which reorganized into the First Order. And Snoke was the leader of the First Order.
If that’s the case, Project Necromancer will probably bring back a powerful Force user from the dead so that he can serve as Snoke, the proxy of the emperor. After all, an artificial being can’t be as strong as Snoke is in the Force. And that means that someone strong in the Force might have been brought back to become Snoke, and that could explain why Snoke said that he was there during the rise and fall of the Empire.
Will We Learn More About Project Necromancer?
At this point, it is unlikely that we will learn more about Project Necromancer in season 3 of The Mandalorian because episode 8 of the third season is already the final one and will focus on the battle between the Mandalorians and Moff Gideon.
However, future Star Wars projects with timelines between The Mandalorian and Episode VII will likely talk more about Project Necromancer and reveal the details behind this Imperial project. After all, a lot more Star Wars content is set to be released in the future. And that means that one of these shows and movies could reveal the details behind this mysterious project.
