Daily Curiosity

Star Wars · Question

What is the name of the Trade Federation’s viceroy in The Phantom Menace?

Answer

Nute Gunray

The story behind the answer

In The Phantom Menace, the Trade Federation’s Neimoidian viceroy is the one who orders the blockade and invasion of Naboo under Darth Sidious’s direction, often seen aboard the Droid Control Ship with aide Rune Haako. Don’t confuse him with Lott Dod (also Neimoidian, but a Galactic Senate delegate), Wat Tambor (Techno Union foreman with a dial-twisting voice modulator, introduced in Attack of the Clones), or San Hill (the long-faced Muun who leads the InterGalactic Banking Clan).

As the corporate face of corruption, his actions spark the Naboo crisis that propels Palpatine’s rise and seeds the Separatist movement; he later sits on the Separatist Council. He was portrayed under heavy prosthetics by Silas Carson, who also played Jedi Master Ki-Adi-Mundi. Fun trivia: his name is a tongue-in-cheek nod to late-20th-century U.S. politicians.

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