Even though we just got a brand newStar Warsmovie for the first time in a decade last year withStar Wars: The Force Awakens, the wait leading up toStar Wars: Rogue Onewas a long one for many fans. Fear not, because the long wait is finally over! After months of countless trailers, rumors and reshoots, the first ever standalone movie taking place in theStar Warsuniverse is finally here. Even though the movie does stand on its own, and isn’t completely void offlaws, it is absolutely jam packed with fun references, easter eggs and throwbacks to all kinds of stuff from every corner of the Star Wars galaxy far, far away.
Disneypurchased all of Lucasfilm fromGeorge Lucasback in 2012 for more than $4 billion and in that time, we have now seen two new live-actionStar Warsmovies, with many more sure to come. The sample size may be small, but it is very clear that these new movies are going to do their best to stand on their own two feet, but they are also going to honor what came before. So far, this has been done through references,Star Wars cameosand a whole bunch of Easter eggs. Some of them are right on the surface and other ones only the most hardcoreStar Warsfans will pick up on, but they are plentiful.
J.J. Abramswasn’t shy at all about paying homages to the other greatStar Warsmovies that came before when he directedStar Wars: The Force Awakens. Though there were a ton of hidden Easter eggs in the movie, it is pretty clear that the movie borrowed a lot fromStar Wars: A New Hopein terms of character and plot structure. In a lot of ways, it could be argued that the movie was almost a remake that managed to remain part of the established continuity.Star Wars: Rogue Oneis very different in that it is very much its own, new story. But it is still heavily tied and rooted to the events ofStar Wars: A New Hope.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, for those who may not know, is a prequel movie that takes place in the time between the events ofStar Wars: Revenge of the SithandStar Wars: A New Hopeand tells the story of how the Rebels got their hands on the plans for the Empire’s planet-destroying weapon, the Death Star. This is something that was originally teased in the opening crawl of the originalStar Warsback in 1977, so it is heavily tied to the events of that movie, but is a story not told previously in theStar Wars universe.
Given that the events ofRogue One: A Star Wars Storydirectly affect what we saw take place inStar Wars: A New Hope, there was a lot of opportunity for the creative team to make little connections that fans of the franchise will appreciate. There are a ton of Easter eggs and references in this firstStar Warsstandalone movie. Some you probably caught and some you might not have, but here are the most significant ones. Fair warning, this article will contain spoilers forRogue One: A Star Wars Story, so if you haven’t seen the movie yet, you may want to wait on this.
48The Rebel Scope Tower
When our heroes Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor leaveYavin IVfor Jedha, we see a familiar site. The Scope tower, where one lone rebel soldier is stationed, always on the look out for any unmarked or unrecognizable ships. The white-helmeted security guard stands at attention at all times obviously, and he hasn’t moved much since we last saw him in A New Hope, as Luke, Han, Leia and the rest of the Millennium Falcon crew first arrived on Massassi Base. The shot we see in Rogue One is almost identical to the shot in the 1977 original were the X-wings take off to fight against the Death Star.
47Blue Bantha Milk in the Erso home
This little Easter egg shows up quite early inStar Wars: Rogue Oneand is one of those “blink and you’ll miss it” kind of things. But those attuneStar Warsfans who noticed the blue milk in the opening sequence of the movie likely got a kick out of it. Blue milk is another thing that has its origins inStar Wars: A New Hope. We see Luke Skywalker drinking some at the dinner table with his aunt and uncle on Tatooine. InRogue One, we see some of it on the counter when the young version of Jyn Erso was gathering her things in order to make her way to safety when Orson Krennic was coming to recruit her father Galen Erso to help with the construction of the Death Star. As for what blue milk is exactly? Well, according to Wookiepedia, it actually comes from Banthas, but that hasn’t been confirmed in the newStar Warscanon at any point.
46The Journal of the Whills
This gets into some serious, deep-cutStar Warsnerd stuff right here, but there is an Easter egg inStar Wars: Rogue Onethat dates back to the earliest days of theStar Warsuniverse when the whole thing was still just a script byGeorge Lucas. In an early draft ofStar Wars: A New Hope, there was an idea for an ancient book calledThe Journal of the Whills, Part I.This was eventually scrapped, but it is something that has occasionally showed up in theStar Warsexpanded universe and has now been officially made a part of the new canon.
In the movie, Chirrut Imwe and Baze Malbus are casually referred to as part of a Force-believing group called the “Guardian of the Whills.” This marks the first time the Whills have ever been mentioned in aStar Warsmovie. It was said in the novelization ofStar Wars: Revenge of the Siththat Qui-Gon Gin learned how to become a Force ghost from the “Shaman of the Whills,” but we still don’t really know who or what the Whills are. Perhaps now that it has been mentioned it will be explored further in a movie later on.
45Saw Gerrera serves as an Apocalypse Now callback
Forest Whittaker’sSaw Gerrerais a direct callback to Marlon Brando’s deadly Colonel Kurtz in Francis Ford Coppola’s surreal 1979 Vietnam War classic, Apocalypse Now. Saw is presented as a mysterious figure with the same type of leadership qualities. Mysterious yet powerful. And he has his own little cult that bends to his will. Apocalypse Now and A New Hope are inexplicably tied together. George Lucas helped his pal Francise Ford Coppola make the movie. And it was actually supposed to be Lucas' next project after American Graffiti. George wanted to make the war epic a simple low-budget, black and white pseudo-documentary alongside Coppola. But the pair couldn’t get funding. So Lucas decided instead to develop Star Wars while Coppola went out and made Apocalypse Now, which is considered one of the all-time great war movies. Rogue One director Gareth Edwards has said he pulled inspiration directly from the Coppola film in making Rogue One.
44The requisite THX-1138 callback
George Lucas' directorial debut was THX-1138, and it has been referenced in every Star Wars movie going all the way back to the 1977 original, with the detention block 1138 the destination for Chewbacca as Luke and Han cart the wookie away in disguise. The THX-1138 Easter egg might be a little harder to find in Rogue One. As Jyn and Cassian make it to the top secret data facility holding the Death Star plans, Cassian must manually extract the data tape housing the Death Star schematics. Doing this, he uses a pair of clamps that are almost identical to clamps used by the hero in George Lucas’s debut feature film.
43Stormtrooper Doll
During the early stages of the marketing forStar Wars: Rogue Onethere was a shot of one of the Death Troopers holding aStormtrooper doll. This made it into the final cut of the movie, which we see in the beginning as Jyn Erso drops it when she is running to safety from Orson Krennic and his squad of Death Troopers, who have come to recruit Galen Erso against his will. This is most definitely an indication of just how big the Empire’s stranglehold is on the galaxy, since a Stormtrooper toy would be something a kid would own.
42HAVW A6 Juggernaut
During one of the earlier sequences in the movie, Jyn Erso is being held captive by the Empire and at one point, she is being transported by a massive Imperial tank of some sort. The vehicle is known as an HAVW A6 Juggernaut and actually first showed up inStar Wars: Revenge of the Sithas a form of Stormtrooper transport. InRogue One: A Star Wars Story, we see that there is something of a “waste not, what not” attitude, as the Empire has repurposed these vehicles for prisoner transport, and it also serves as a little nod to the prequels andThe Clone Wars.
41Twi’lek Dancer & Dejarik
At one point inStar Wars: Rogue OneSaw Gerrera’s band of extremists captures Jyn, Cassian, Chirrut and Baze, who are taken to his hideout. When they are being taken to their cells, we can see what Saw’s gang in their free time, which includes watching holograms of Twi’lek dancers and playing Dejarik. The former is something fans will recognize fromStar Wars: Return of the Jedi, as it was something Jabba the Hutt was quite fond of doing as well. The latter comes fromStar Wars: A New Hopeand it was the same came that Chewbacca was playing with C-3PO on the Millennium Falcon.
40Stormtroopers discuss the T-15
Remember when Obi-Wan Kenobi is trying to shut down the tractor beam while Han, Luke and Chewbacca rescue the princess? We see two Stormtoopers discussing the BT-16, which has modified ion engines. That scene gets a direct callback in Rogue One, but this time the two troopers are taking about the T-15. This particular airspeed must get updates faster than the Apple phone, cause this scene takes place roughly a week, maybe a week and a half before the events seen on the Death Star in A New Hope. Though, some speculate that the Troopers are not talking about the discontinuation of the T-15 as an airspeeder. But instead, they are referencing the T-15 hyperdrive generator, a piece of equipment first mentioned in a video game tie-in to Episode I - The Phantom Menace.
39The Death Star Plans
Remember that funky 3D vector graphic of the Death Star that only exists in A New Hope because it was the best VFX money could buy at the time? Well, it makes a full comeback here, 70s vibe be damned. The recreation of this graphic is pretty flawless and spot on, comparable to when we first see it in the pre-strike briefing on the Death Star in a New Hope at Massassi. Director Gareth Edwards even keeps the infamous visual error with the circular depression that fires the laser placed on the structure’s equator, instead of its northern hemisphere.
