SPOILERS: ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY - 10 Awesome Easter Eggs You May Have Missed
As expected, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is crammed full of awesome and hard to spot Easter Eggs tied to other films and teasing the future of the franchise. Here are the ten biggest and best ones...
As you obviously already know, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is set shortly before the events of A New Hope. In fact, it ends pretty much where that movie begins, so it probably won't come as any sort of surprise to learn that it's packed full of references to that, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, the prequels (whether you like them or not), and perhaps most interestingly, The Force Awakens.
What you'll find here is a look at Rogue One's ten best Easter Eggs, and we're not talking about the obvious ones like Princess Leia's return or the lack of an opening crawl! Instead, we take a look at the more obscure nods to the greater Star Wars Universe and the way this movie both pays homage to the past and sets up the future. It goes without saying then that we'll be touching on big spoilers here!
So, from nods to Star Wars Rebels to Obi-Wan Kenobi, click on through to check all of these out.
10. Red Five
Chances are you haven't spent years wondering why Luke Skywalker was designated the "Red Five" callsign when he first took flight as part of the Rebellion in A New Hope, but Rogue One provides the answer. It's a pretty simple one too; the previous "Red Five" was killed in the Battle of Scarif! It's a fun nod regardless, and one that makes sense considering the fact that the original Star Wars takes place so soon after the events of this spinoff.
It's not the only Easter Egg here though as three characters from A New Hope make an appearance thanks to some cleverly used stock footage. Those are Red Leader Garven Dreis and Gold Leader Jon Vander, both of whom died during the attack on the Death Star. You'll also spot Luke's old friend Biggs Darklighter for a millisecond if you keep your eyes peeled!
9. Star Wars Rebels
It should come as no surprise to learn that Rogue One ties into Disney XD's Star Wars Rebels, and one of the characters even makes an appearance here! That is Chopper, the fan-favourite droid from the animated series; he can be seen on the Rebel base on Yavin IV in a blink and you'll miss it cameo. It's in that same base we hear a call for "General Syndulla," something which must be a nod to Hera, a character who could have very easily gone from Captain to General in the time which has passed between whenever Rebels ends and Rogue One begins.
During the Battle of Scarif, we also see a Corellian VCX-100 light freighter that bears a striking resemblance to The Ghost (Hera's ship), but whether she or any of the other characters from the show are actually on board obviously remains to be seen as Rebels continues to play out.
8. Darth Vader's Acolytes
During one of Rogue One's most intriguing scenes, we pay a visit to Darth Vader's castle on Mustafar. When Director Krennic arrives to provide an update on the status of the Death Star, a mysterious cloaked figure (played by Man of Steel and Supernatural's Julian Richings) approaches his Bacta tank to tell the Sith Lord of his arrival, but who is this? Well, we never get a name, but the guy is definitely similar to the Acolytes of the Beyond from Chuck Wendig's Aftermath novel.
There, these fanatics make it their mission to track down the belongings of Darth Vader - including his lightsaber - so it's possible that the group remained loyal to their master years after his death and that we're getting a glimpse of one them here. How does this tie to the new trilogy? We'll just have to wait and see.
7. Some Familiar Faces
Rogue One features some very interesting cameos, including a pretty awesome shot of Princess Leia in the final few seconds. However, they're not all as obvious as that and Grand Moff Tarkin's return, and if you look closely, you'll notice that two familiar faces from A New Hope show up on Jedha. Those are Ponda Baba and Cornelius Evazan, the two criminals who pick a fight with Luke in the Mos Eisley cantina.
Neither of their dispositions are any sunnier here, though it's lucky for them that they managed to get off Jedha before it was destroyed by the Death Star (not that things go too well for them in the original Star Wars). R2-D2 and C-3PO also make an appearance, and while it's a little cringeworthy - there really was no need for them to show up in this movie - many fans will be pleased to see them here.
6. T-16 > T-15
It will probably be a while until we find out whether or not any famous faces were beneath the helmets of the Stormtroopers who showed up in Rogue One, but two of the soldiers on Scarif are having an interesting conversation which links to A New Hope in a really fun way. Talking about how the T-15s are now obsolete, this is a reference to the two Stormtroopers who are discussing the brand new T-16s while Obi-Wan Kenobi turns off the tractor beam behind them.
Considering the fact that Tarkin orders the Empire's base on the planet to be destroyed by the Death Star, these aren't the same two soldiers, but the ships they're talking about - which Luke mentioned he used back home on Tatooine to kill Womp Rats - have clear been upgraded in the time which passes between the movies. This is one of many nods to A New Hope, and we'll touch on more later in this post.
5. Obi-Wan Kenobi
There's sadly no sign of Obi-Wan Kenobi in Rogue One, but that doesn't mean his presence isn't still felt. As Bail Organa gets ready to leave for Alderaan, Mon Mothma talks about him reaching out to an old Jedi friend, and the Rebel leader goes on to say that his ally has been in hiding since the events of Revenge of the Sith and that there's only one person he trusts to get in touch with him.
It doesn't take a Star Wars expert to figure that one out, especially as Organa says that he served him well during the Clone Wars! That's another major reference to the prequels from this new wave of movies, and it's hard not to wonder if the clones might return somewhere down the line. The fact that Jyn is being held on a planet called Wobani when we first meet her is also interesting, especially as that's an anagram for Obi-Wan!
4. HAVw A6 Juggernaut
Talking of The Clone Wars, the transport being used to carry Jyn to an Imperial Labour Camp on Wobani bears a striking resemblance to a HAVw A6 Juggernaut from Revenge of the Sith. Those were used to move around the Republic's Clone army, but in the years since that group of soldiers was disbanded and replaced by Stormtroopers, they've clearly been repurposed to serve a very different function.
That's not the only familiar vehicle to show up here, as we also get to see the EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigate and the GR-75 medium transport. Both of those first appeared in The Empire Strikes Back, and there's nothing more to really say about them beyond that! Darth Vader's Devastator also shows up in Rogue One; he was in charge of that ship until the events of the movie mentioned above, and it was destroyed during the Battle of Endor.
3. Guardians Of The Whills
It's mentioned in Rogue One that Chirrut Imwe and Baze Malbus serve the Guardians of Whills and protect a temple which is sacred to those who followed the teachings of the Church of the Force. Supporters of that cause first popped up following the Jedi Purge, and Max von Sydow's Lor San Tekka from The Force Awakens was also part of that group. The Whills meanwhile was made canon in the novelisation of that movie, and it's a concept first dreamed up by George Lucas.
It's a sort of holy book that chronicles the history of the galaxy, and Lucas' original idea was that R2-D2 first taught the group of beings about that around 100 years after the Battle of Endor, something they then collected into a journal. How much of that is still the case isn't clear for now, but it could end up returning somewhere down the line.
2. Blue Milk
I mentioned that there are a number of references to A New Hope in Rogue One, and one of the funniest comes in the movie's prologue. As Director Krennic arrives on Lah'mu (a planet which first appeared in Catalyst), the young Jyn runs home where we see a familiar beverage on a countertop; blue milk! As you may recall, that's the same drink that Luke Skywalker could be seen drinking shortly after we first met him in the original Star Wars. Where exactly Galen and his wife found a Bantha to milk on this deserted planet isn't clear!
Still want more nods to that movie? Well, when a Rebel guard scans a ship taking off from the Rebel base on Yavin IV, he does so in a way which is nearly identical to when one of them did the exact same thing to the Millennium Falcon when it landed there in A New Hope. Oh, and if Organa's mention of Captain Antilles rings a bell, it's because Vader kills him at the start of the 1977 classic!
1. The Death Star
For years, some fans have wondered why the hell the Empire would build a weapon like the Death Star with such an obvious flaw. Rogue One finally sheds some light on that by revealing that Galen Erso deliberately built a flaw into the design, spending years pretending to be under the thumb of Director Krennic and the Empire so the Rebellion could one day exploit that and destroy this planet killing weapon.
We also learn more about Kyber crystals in this movie, including the fact that the lightsaber powering substance is also what makes the Death Star so destructive. The second version of the weapon also had a fatal flaw, and you can't help but wonder whether or not the plans for that being stolen might one day make for the basis of another movie. Are you ready for Rogue Two?
Which of these Easter Eggs was your favourite? Have we missed any others? As always, be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.