It Was Important for George Lucas to Give the Clones Identities Because ‘Clones Are People’ Too on ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’

It’s happening: Order 66 is going down in Episode 11 of The Clone Wars. Whether it severely hurt you or you’re already numb to pain, it’s still a monumental situation. Fans are finally able to see Dave Filoni and George Lucas’ vision for this final arc come to life and officially link The Clone Wars and Revenge of the Sith together by this single event, which was the plan the whole time. And the reason it hurt so badly to watch from this point of view was certainly that fans knew the Clone troopers so well. And that was done on purpose by George Lucas. 

George Lucas said that clones “are people,” not just soldiers 

In a recent episode of The Star Wars Show on YouTube, Filoni — the current supervising director and executive producer of The Clone Wars — and Lucas sat down to talk about the show. One question touched on how the clones each became their own identity, had their own nicknames and had their special allegiance to specific Jedi. 

“Even though they’re clones, clones are people,” Lucas emphasized. “Everybody starts out the same, but in time, as they grow up, they change. One of the keys in doing a movie is you gotta recognize the characters.” This, of course, sheds a harsher light on what they were programmed to do against their will during Order 66. 

And Filoni highlighted Dee Bradley Baker, who voices every single clone. It’s no easy task, of course, but he makes it work perfectly. 

‘You forget when you’re watching it that it’s all one guy,” Filoni shared. “In fact, sometimes he’s playing good guys and the villain too. Which is then really mind-blowing. But yeah, that was a visual challenge, it was an acting challenge.”

Lucas originally created ‘The Clone Wars’ to dive into the wars and other stories outside of Anakin Skywalker

Lucas also told ScreenSlam.com in 2015 that the whole reason he even created the series was to dive into the politics of the war and other stories during this time period, including the clones’. 

“The Clone Wars are basically a footnote in the saga of Anakin Skywalker. And that’s what the features are about,” he said about this time period. “They’re really about Anakin, they’re about his son. It’s very narrow-focused about his descent into the Dark Side. I wanted to do something when I was doing Episode III, I wanted to do something that involved the Clone Wars.”

And create he did. The Clone Wars is one of the most beloved parts of the Star Wars franchise, and created several new characters like Ahsoka and Rex who actually have a pretty big narrative in this era that the series takes place in. 

Sam Witwer, who voices Maul, told the Star Wars Holocron blog that this is truly an ode to Lucas at this point, at that he truly enjoyed making this series. Lucas was a big collaborator on the series up until it was canceled and stopped airing in 2013. 

“We were so happy to be implementing it for him …you really did just get a directive from George, and that directive got discussed and translated by Dave Filoni,” Witwer said about making it back when Lucas was a part of it. “That’s the fun of watching the “Siege of Mandalore,” because it just feels pure in its intention.”

The series is the last part of ‘Star Wars’ that Lucas actually created, and hopefully, he likes it

So, of course, it’s understandable that Witwer wants Lucas to love the Siege of Mandalore, this final arc in the series. It means something especially important, too, considering this is the last thing to come out that was originally created and set in motion by Lucas.

“It’s so cool that this is the last George Lucas-produced Star Wars. The last Star Wars that has George’s fingerprints on it,” Witwer perfectly put into words. “I truly loved to hear that George was reacting well to [the final season of The Clone Wars]. And I’m happy to hear that he likes how Clone Wars is going so far this season. I really hope he likes our finale because that’s where it all counts.”

With the way Episode 11, “Shattered” went down, there’s no doubt Lucas is happy.