"It was an honor to work for such a great man who held the Republic in such high esteem. Cad Bane will pay for this despicable act! I will make sure of it."
Philo is killed by Cad Bane while trying to leave the Executive Building's East Wing.
As Philo and his political bloc took a stand against the Enhanced Privacy Invasion Bill, the legislation was put to a vote. The morning of the Senate's scheduled vote on the proposal, Philo called his colleagues to an important meeting in the Republic Executive Building's[2]East Wing lobby atrium[3] to ensure their continued opposition to the bill. Organa, Amidala, and the eight other senators of their group were in attendance, and Philo confirmed that they would all vote against Palpatine in the decision on the legislation. Their caucus was interrupted when the lobby was invaded and taken over by a group of mercenaries led by the notorious bounty hunterCad Bane. Aided by several IG-86 sentinel droids and fellow bounty hunters Aurra Sing and Shahan Alama, Bane took Philo and his colleagues hostage, to be used as leverage to force Palpatine into freeing the Huttcrime lordZiro Desilijic Tiure, who was currently in prison for previous crimes against the Republic. Surrounding the senators with his comrades, Bane warned the politicians to stand down if they wished to live. Philo was outraged by Bane's impudence and attempted to press pass him out of the lobby, refusing to listen to the bounty hunter's demands.[2]
When Philo walked past him, the unmoved Bane drew one of his LL-30 blaster pistols and shot the Gran Senator in the back, instantly killing him and showing the other senators that he meant business. Bane's hostage takeover of the Senate proved effective, and his team was able to secure Ziro the Hutt's release from prison.[2] The incident was later reported in a broadcast of the Republic's HoloNet News as part of the reporterRule Davenbay's A Galaxy Divided segment. For the broadcast, Davenbay interviewed Salo, who expressed his sadness with Philo's death and swore to avenge Bane's murder of his role model.[4]
"As long as everybody behaves, this will be quick and painless. Do nothing, and it'll all be over soon." "I don't know who you think you are, but I for one have no intention of listening to this kind of insolence."
―Cad Bane and Philo, just before the latter is shot by the former — Listen (file info)[src]
Philo stands up to Cad Bane, an ultimately fatal move that would result in his death.
A Gran with three brown-coloredeyes,[2] Philo possessed the rare Gran trait of blue skin, which was sparse among his commonly tan-skinned species.[7] He wore a set of formal robes to affairs and official proceedings associated with the Senate.[2] A prominent[5] Republic senator, Philo held the Republic in high esteem during the Clone Wars,[4] a time when the Republic Senate was accused of widespread corruption and its effectiveness largely questioned.[8][9] He was respected by many peers and colleagues, including his employee, Salo, who considered it an honor to devote himself to a life of service to the Gran Senator. Salo subsequently directed much ire toward Cad Bane following his murder of Philo during the Senate hostage crisis.[4] Philo was not intimidated by bounty hunters like Bane, though he underestimated the notorious mercenary's dangerousness. Refusing to tolerate "insolence" of any kind, Philo went so far as to press pass Bane out of the East Wing atrium in a show of contempt for the mercenary. This action cost him his life, for the unperturbed Bane killed him in a show of force to demonstrate the seriousness of his demands to the other senator captives.[2]
"Senator Philo has called a meeting in the lobby before we vote on the Enhanced Privacy Invasion Bill."
―Bail Organa introduces Philo in "Hostage Crisis"[src]
Philo was one of the ten senators taken hostage by Cad Bane in "Hostage Crisis."
The character of Senator Philo was created for the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series and first appeared in the series' first season finale, "Hostage Crisis," which aired on March 20, 2009. In the episode, he was voiced by voice actor Phil LaMarr, who also portrayed Bail Organa[3] and Jedi MasterKit Fisto for the series.[10] In the episode, Philo's early and violent death at the hands of Cad Bane exemplified the "instant effectiveness" of Bane and his bounty hunter troupe, which was intentionally established by Series Director Dave Filoni and the series' production team for the introduction of bounty hunters in "Hostage Crisis."[11] Philo's name was misspelled once as "Phylo" in the annotated Decoded re-airing of "Hostage Crisis" on Cartoon Network, despite being spelled correctly earlier in the re-airing.[7]