How Long Are Clones Meant to Live in Star Wars?

The clone troopers were an integral part of Star Wars–so much so that an entire war was named after them.

But did you know that the clone troopers were much younger than they looked? In fact, they were even younger than Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker’s teenage padawan.

With this in mind, you may be wondering: Did the clone troopers age faster than normal? Why did they appear to be adults when they were, in reality, so much younger?

Clone troopers were designed to age twice as fast as the average human. This was so they would be ready for combat action sooner rather than later. Only two clones, Boba Fett and Omega, were made to age at a normal rate.

Do Star Wars Clone Troopers Age Faster?

Clone troopers comprised much of the Grand Army of the Republic during the Clone Wars. These human beings were artificially produced using DNA from the bounty hunter Jango Fett.

Because of the unnatural way they were created, there were a number of characteristics that set them apart from natural-born humans. One of these characteristics was that they aged quicker than normal.

All of the clones, which were produced by the Kaminoans, had the same appearance and voice as Jango Fett, but they did not all have the same personality or temperament.

What’s more, they were genetically modified to have a more docile disposition. This modification made it nearly impossible for them to disobey orders.

It also made them age more quickly. But just how fast was the aging process sped up in clones?

They were designed to age twice as fast as a typical human. With that in mind, clones that were only 10 years old were the equivalent of 20-year-old men.

Of course, this meant that they had shorter life expectancies since the age acceleration process could not be reversed. They would continue to age at double the normal rate through adulthood, outgrowing their military fitness in half the usual time.

For this reason, most of the Clone troopers had died off by the time of the Galactic Civil War, which occurred just a couple of decades following the Clone Wars.

The Exceptions: Boba Fett and Omega

Of course, to every rule, there are exceptions. Though most clones were made to age faster, there are two notable characters who did not receive the genetic modifications their brothers were subjected to.

Boba Fett, codenamed Alpha, was produced at the special request of Jango Fett. As part of his payment for being the genetic donor, he asked the Kaminoans to create an unmodified clone that he could raise as a son.

Because he didn’t receive any modifications, Boba was an exact replica of Jango, and he aged at a normal rate. Thus, while many of his clone brothers were going off to war, Boba was still a young boy.

Another exception to the accelerated aging rule was Omega, a second exact replica of Jango who the Kaminoans produced in secret. Omega was an exact replica of Jango except for the fact that she was female.

While the show The Bad Batch has not revealed exactly why the Kaminoans created Omega, there is speculation among its characters that she could be used as a new genetic template to continue producing clones of Jango, even though Jango himself is dead.

Since Omega’s DNA was also unaltered, she aged at the normal rate, as Boba did. Thus, during Season 1 of The Bad Batch, she appears to be about 10 to 12 years old while her clone brothers all appear to be at least twice that age.

Why Do Clones Age So Fast?

As mentioned, Clone troopers were genetically modified during their creation. It is unclear how, exactly, these modifications were carried out, but we do know that age acceleration was a part of the process.

The main reason clones were made to age rapidly was so that they would be ready to fight in less time.

If the clones had aged at the normal rate, it would have taken approximately 20 years before each batch of soldiers would be ready for combat. Because of the accelerated aging process, they were instead being sent to the battlefield within 10 years.

This allowed the Kaminoans to create and move more clones through their facilities at a faster rate and, ultimately, to produce a greater number of soldiers for the Republic’s army.

How Long Are Clones Meant to Live in Star Wars?

It is unclear exactly how long the Kaminoans intended for the clones to live, or if they took longevity into consideration at all. They were being paid to produce soldiers; any thought of the clones’ lives following their military service likely didn’t occur to them.

Again, though, clones were designed to age at about twice the normal rate. With that in mind, they would most likely live about half the lifespan of natural-born humans.

It is unclear what the average lifespan for a human is in Star Wars. But on earth, men are expected to live about 76 years.

If we apply this same average to men in the Star Wars universe, then clone troopers would live for roughly half of 76 years, or 38 years.

Of course, factors such as stress and health conditions would lead to some clones living longer or dying sooner than others. Just like with natural-born humans, cloned humans would not all die at exactly the same age–especially those who died in combat.

Still, this accelerated aging helps to explain why Rex looks significantly older in Star Wars Rebels than he does in The Clone Wars, even though only about 15 years have passed between his appearances in these two shows.

It’s worth noting that Rex fought in the Galactic Civil War and even during the Battle of Endor, when he would have been 36 years old (the equivalent of 72). This shows that he was still physically fit and capable of fighting near the end of his expected lifespan.

So, despite aging at twice the rate of other humans, the clones were not all expected to die at the same time.

Conclusion

In Star Wars, the clone troopers age about twice as fast as natural-born humans. They were programmed to age more quickly during their creation so they would be ready for combat action sooner.

Two clones were created without these age modifications–Boba Fett (Alpha) and a girl named Omega. Both of these characters age at the normal rate and, thus, were both still adolescents during the Clone Wars.