The 2008 The Clone Wars series allowed George Lucas to expand upon the prequel’s story
without being constrained to the time limitations of a movie trilogy.
Along with developing the main characters of the prequels such as Anakin Skywalker and
Darth Maul, Lucas also sought to better develop the state of the galaxy shown in his movies
and include more depth to the overall conflict.
One of these ambitions included developing the state of the Separatists of the Clone
Wars and their relationship with the Galactic Corporations such as the Trade Federation
and Techno Union that provided them with the droid armies.
Lucas’ goal was to make it clear that the Galactic Corporations were not directly aligned
with the Separatists, and that they rather acted as profiteers which sold weapons and
provided resources to both sides of the conflict.
This was also his reasoning for creating the Separatist Parliament and showcasing members
of the Trade Federation, Banking Clan, and others within the Republic Senate.
But there was one ship in the early creation of The Clone Wars that went against this effort
Lucas was trying to accomplish, and it was the Trade Federation Lucrehulk-class Battleship.
In the Clone Wars Umbara Featurette, Dave Filoni mentions this very fact when going
over the reason as to why they had to create an entirely new ship design during the starship
battle that took place in the third episode of the story arc.
Link to the full Umbara Featurette will be included in the description as well.
Originally, the supply ship that the clones were supposed to destroy was a Lucrehulk-class
Battleship, but Lucas had the Clone Wars team remove it and replace it with an entirely
new ship design, which came to be the DH-Omni Support Vessel, also known simply as the Separatist
Supply Ship.
Lucas’ reasoning for this was to visually differentiate the ships the Separatists used
and those that the Trade Federation used in their everyday commerce.
To him, the inclusion of the Lucrehulk-class Battleship during the early episodes of The
Clone Wars undermined his efforts in telling the story of how big business, like the Trade
Federation, were playing both sides of the war, and held a largely neutral position in
the war.
Dave Filoni goes on to clarify Lucas’ comments, by mentioning the Separatist Council scene
shown in Attack of the Clones, stating how the leaders of the Galactic Corporations were
there simply to make a business deal with Count Dooku by selling their battle droids
and warships, rather than out right join the Confederacy of Independent Systems itself.
So having the Lucrehulk-class Battleships and having them be led by members of the Trade
Federation didn’t make sense to Lucas, as it linked them to the Separatists too much.
Lucas also had the Clone Wars team remove the Separatist markings of the Lucrehulk-class
Battleship in the episode Sphere of Influence, since it was the Trade Federation that had
kidnapped the daughters of Chairman Papanoida, and he wanted to make it clear that they were
not involved with the Confederacy.
This is also why the Lucrehulk-class Battleship didn’t appear in The Clone Wars after the
Umbara arc, with it being fully replaced by the Separatist Supply Ship for future episodes.
Despite all this effort Lucas made to accomplish his goal of differentiating the Separatists
and the Galactic Corporations, Dave Filoni brought up an interesting point to him on
the matter: why there were clearly marked Separatist Lucrehulk-class Battleships during
the battle of Coruscant as seen in the Revenge of the Sith movie.
Filoni explained the answer he was given was that by that time of the war, many of the
Galactic Corporations, the Trade Federation specifically, had begun to publicly back the
Separatists and went all in for their support.
They likely believed the Confederacy of Independent Systems was on the edge of winning the war
and wanted to reap the awards following their victory, being fully unaware that the entire
war was staged by Palpatine and that the Separatists were doomed to lose from the very beginning.
So that’s the behind the scenes reasons as to why George Lucas wanted to remove the
Lucrehulk-class Battleship from The Clone Wars and how it related to his greater efforts
in giving depth to the overall conflict itself.
Let us know what you thought of his explanations and if you want to see more videos based off
behind the scenes interviews from the creators of Star Wars!