Does Cloning Belong in Episode IX?

Emperor and his clone bodies
No one is ever really gone…

So there is a deep history of cloning in the star wars universe. Does it really belong in Rise of Skywalker?  Before Star Wars Celebration, my answer would have been no. Post trailer how can it not be?!  Darth Sidious is back! We don’t know how this happened yet, but how can cloning not be an extremely viable option?  It would bring the saga full circle, just as JJ Abrams said he would do.

If there are no clones involved with Sidious, then his existence can only be explained in one of two ways.  Either his spirit survived attached to some object, presumably in the Deathstar chunk we see in the trailer, and he possesses someone, or he time/space jumped from his death until now.  Possession is possible and sets other unique struggles, but I really do not think they will use time jumping or the “world between worlds” used in Filoni’s Rebels series.

But Why Would Rey Be a Clone?

Luke loses his hand on Bespin
Separation of hand and body

Cloning may be involved. What evidence do we have that Rey might be a clone of some sort?  There are a few possibilities here.  First off what stock would she be cloned from? It would obviously have to be altered from male to female, but there are two sources of DNA for Rey’s lineage.  

Sidious could have used his own DNA in an attempt to make her viable for him in some manner, which could be the possession angle once on the Deathstar, but what better DNA to use than the DNA of the strongest force family in the galaxy – Skywalkers.  Keep in mind, Luke’s lightsaber resurfaced somehow, but we have not heard how or the status of the hand that was attached to it. Remember, it was once rumored that Luke’s hand and saber would open one of the films floating through space, but that idea was later dropped.