23 Details In "Star Wars" Movies You Definitely Never Noticed
If you were looking for an excuse to re-watch all the Star Wars movies, this is that excuse.
We've all seen E.T. in The Phantom Menace (if you haven't, here you go), but that only scratches the surface of all the hidden details throughout Star Wars. The lore of this iconic galaxy far, far away has become so big that there are Star Wars scholars. And after over 50 years of Star Wars stuff, it's safe to say there are still some Easter eggs out there no one has caught yet. But don't worry, you don't have to sift through all the timelines, canon, and legends to find the best hidden details in Star Wars. These are 23 of my favorites that you might not already know.
1.Ahsoka Tano is meant to reflect the shift from the days of the Republic to the era of the Empire.
Dave Filoni based Ahsoka on Carrie Fisher's brash and brave princess Leia, but he also pulled on Obi-Wan's ability to calmly reason and weigh options. Obi-Wan represents the time of the Republic (a soldier in peacetime), and Princess Leia the time of the Empire (a good leader during war). Ahsoka starts in The Clone Wars as a soldier just starting to leave peacetime, and ends the series as a leader who has faced war.
2.We saw Boba Fett's face 22 years before Attack of the Clones, way back in Empire Strikes Back.
No, not Temuera Morrison, though I do have some theories about him being a time traveler. The original man under the helmet was Jeremy Bulloch, and we actually caught a glimpse of his face in Cloud City. The only catch is that he wasn't playing Boba Fett. He was Lieutenant Sheckil, the man who grabs Leia as she warns Luke he's walking into a trap. And just in case you're curious, he did not provide the original voice of Boba Fett. That was Jason Wingreen, who never actually met Bulloch.
3.In The Phantom Menace, there is an EVA pod from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
The original Star Wars actually shared much of the same production crew as 2001. This was mainly because George Lucas was such a big fan of Kubrick's movie. He pays respect to the classic space epic with a broken EVA pod in Watts' scrapyard.
4.Three different actors play the Mandalorian, and in one episode Pedro Pascal wasn't present at all.
OK, it's not like Pascal just took the day off. He had previous commitments for the play King Lear. Fortunately, his character has this little quirk about never showing his face. So for the entirety of Season 1, Episode 4 ("The Sanctuary"), Pedro Pascal does not appear onscreen.
But that's not all! Did you know that Mando doesn't just have one stunt double? Brendan Wayne and Lateef Crowder often step into the role. Wayne, who is proficient in firearms (and is the grandson of John Wayne) handles all the scenes in which the Mandalorian shoots stuff. Which is a lot. Crowder does all the hand-to-hand combat. Which is also a lot. Come to think of it, it's a wonder Pascal doesn't play hooky more often.
5.Darth Maul doesn't blink in The Phantom Menace (except when he's losing).
Darth Maul blinks exactly three times in the movie, and they're all when Obi-Wan is beating him: when his lightsaber is cut in half, when his body is cut in half, and just before he falls down the pit. But for the rest of the movie, Darth Maul's yellow eyes are wide open.
This was initially due to the fact that Ray Park (the actor and stuntman who played Maul) had to wear colored contact lenses that were extremely uncomfortable. Blinking would cause his eyes to water or the lenses to shift, so it was easier to simply keep them open. Nothing like a guy with a dual lightsaber, a demon face, and horns staring you down without blinking to get the midi-chlorians pumping.
6.When Wat Tambor ruled Ryloth in The Clone Wars, he discovered some sort of...lost ark.
Wat Tambor briefly ruled Ryloth, overseeing the planet's Separatist occupation. When he sees things aren't going so well for him, Tambor tries to take everything of value from the planet. One of those valuable items we see getting loaded into his ship is the Ark of the Covenant. Considering R2-D2 and C-3PO also show up as hieroglyphs in Raiders of the Lost Ark, it's safe to say that the ark is alien! What does this connection mean for a future Disney+ crossover miniseries and, you know, religion? Only Wat Tambor knows.
7.The Special Edition of A New Hope added a lot, including a reference to a Star Wars novel.
Shadows of the Empire was created by Lucasfilm as a way to bridge the gap between Empire and Return of the Jedi. It was a pretty genius idea, involving all sorts of media like video games, comic book series, toys (of course), and books. The most notable book had the same name, Shadows of the Empire, and its most memorable character was Dash Rendar. The novel was released in 1996, and the 1997 Special Edition of A New Hope added his ship (which looks similar to the Millennium Falcon) into the Mos Eisley scene.
8.Samuel L. Jackson claims that he has "Bad Motherf***er" in Aurebesh (a Star Wars language) engraved on his lightsaber.
The only reason I say "claims" is because we still haven't gotten a verified photo of the engraving on Jackson's lightsaber. He certainly doesn't seem like someone who makes things up to flex on Star Wars fans, and why would he need to? He's Mace Windu, the one onscreen Jedi with a purple lightsaber. Makes sense he'd also be the only one with a curse word engraved on it.
9.Chewie's roar is the combination of a badger, lion, seal, and walrus.
Think you've got a good Chewbacca voice? Then please, don't ever do it if you're around a badger, lion, seal, and walrus at the same time. Things could get dicey. Fun fact, Chewbacca was inspired by George Lucas's Alaskan Malamute, Indiana (can you guess which other character the dog inspired?). The name Chewbacca comes from Sobaka, the Russian word for "dog."
10.In the very first episode of The Mandalorian, George Lucas has a cameo (sort of).
When Mythrol is examining the Mandalorian's collection of carbonite, one slab in particular gets a close-up while Mando sneaks up behind him. Recognize that beard?
11.We all know these little teddy bears are Ewoks, but the word is never actually said in Return of the Jedi.
"Ewok" was written in the screenplay for Return of the Jedi and listed in the credits, but not in any of the dialogue. There are two stories floating around about how George Lucas came up with the word. The first is that he shuffled the pronunciation of "Wookiee" around.
The second (and more generally accepted) story is that he named it after the Miwok, an indigenous tribe. The filming location for the forest moon of Endor was Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park, and the Miwok were native to the redwood forests.
12.Footage shot for A New Hope didn't actually make it into a Star Wars movie until 40 years later, in Rogue One.
Red and Gold Leader were both there in A New Hope, but not all of their footage was used. Since the events of Rogue One take place directly before A New Hope, it makes sense that we'd see some of the same pilots in both movies. And that's exactly what director Gareth Edwards thought when he found some archival footage of A New Hope. This allowed his team to put Gold and Red Leader into Rogue One with never-before-seen footage.
13.Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan's communicators are actually shaving razors.
More specifically, they are the Gillette for Women Sensor Excel with some futuristic gizmos and doohickeys glued on. Star Wars has always been great at taking everyday objects and tweaking them slightly to make them excellent props. For example, Luke's lightsaber hilt was made out of the housing unit for a camera flash (the really big kind of camera flash). Not only are these great details, but they're also cheap too!
14.Spot, the charming robot dog from Boston Dynamics, appears in the first episode of The Book of Boba Fett.
Sure, all this Star Wars stuff happened a long time ago and far, far away from planet Earth. But surely we've invented some cool things, right? Apparently, we did! If you're not familiar with Spot, this video is a great place to start. Spot can do it all, and somehow it wound up lightyears away. Since Star Wars takes place in the past, are we finally catching up to Star Wars tech, or is it finally catching up to us?
Spot's best feature? Its dance moves. Here it is with several other robots in a Boston Dynamics music video.
15.In Attack of the Clones, there is a reference to the most famous Star Wars blooper.
Here's the blooper I'm talking about, where a Stormtrooper hits his head on a door in A New Hope. The flub made it all the way into the final release of the film, and people quickly spotted it. Even though Lucas is known for changing every minuscule thing in his movies he doesn't like, he leaned into the blooper. That's why there's a bonk sound effect in the newer versions of A New Hope.
In Attack of the Clones, the head-bonking was referenced when Jango Fett knocks his head on his ship's door. The entire sequence is CGI, so we're assuming this one was intentional. Those helmets seem like a nightmare for visibility though, so a few bonks are bound to happen.
16.Some of George Lucas's ideas for Episodes VII, VIII, and IX were used in The Last Jedi.
Sure, George Lucas's fingerprints are all over the Star Wars sequels. How could they not be? His original vision was, as George puts it: "I had planned for the first trilogy to be about the father, the second trilogy to be about the son, and the third trilogy to be about the daughter and the grandchildren."
This is still relatively strong in the third trilogy we got from Disney, but The Last Jedi took a specific element from Lucas's plan. Lucas imagined that Luke Skywalker would be a hermit who had to train a female Jedi. Even though he planned for that Jedi to be named Kira, we still got to see that same plotline.
17.When Rey says, "You're Han Solo," in The Force Awakens, his response, "I used to be," is a line Harrison Ford often gives fans.
We all know Harrison Ford speaks his mind, and that's what we love about him. If he's annoyed at a fan or an interviewer, he won't always hide it. And can you blame him? The Star Wars fanbase can be a bit much at times. When people would run up to him, asking if he was the real Harrison Ford or the Han Solo, he would say, "I used to be." Han Solo seems to share Ford's attitude in The Force Awakens, giving Rey the same answer.
18.Michael Giacchino scored every J.J. Abrams movie until The Force Awakens, but his consolation prize wasn't too shabby.
Michael Giacchino may not be a household name like John Williams or Hans Zimmer, but he is a modern legend when it comes to film scoring. He's scored Wes Anderson movies, many Pixar films and projects, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and The Batman, just to name a few. He's been working with J.J. Abrams since Alias, but The Force Awakens marked the first film that Giacchino did not compose for him.
But Giacchino didn't mind. As he put it, he'd take John Williams in a Star Wars movie any day. Besides, J.J. Abrams let Giacchino play a Stormtrooper, so how could he stay mad?
19.There are two possible references to The Godfather in Star Wars.
Disney
George Lucas has never confirmed that he directly referenced the classic Coppola film in Star Wars, but hear me out. The big one is the scene above, where Leia strangles Jabba and we get a close-up of the gangster writhing around, tongue out, eyes bulging.
Lucas actually worked on The Godfather, specifically the scenes when the families go to war. That means George Lucas was almost certainly on set when Luca Brasi, also a gangster, is strangled with a wire from behind. His eyes go wide, and his tongue becomes quite Hutt-like. But check out the scene here and let me know what you think (warning: this strangling is a bit more realistic than Jabba's).
Bonus reference: In Attack of the Clones, Jango Fett says, "Well, we won't be seeing him again" after he (seemingly) blows up Obi-Wan. Paul Clemenza said this same line in The Godfather when Paulie Gatto is killed.
20.In The Last Jedi, Luke recycled part of his X-wing to make a door.
If you look closely at the door of Luke's hut on Ahch-To, you'll notice the same paint job that's on his X-wing. Way to go, Luke. Reduce! Reuse! Recycle!
21.Yoda tells Luke that Darth Vader is indeed his father because kids assumed Vader was lying.
George Lucas spoke with a child psychologist while making Return of the Jedi, who said that moviegoers younger than 13 years old wouldn't believe Luke was Vader's son. Though, this may have been a problem for people over 13 as well. Even James Earl Jones has stated that he initially didn't believe that Vader was telling the truth. But if Yoda says it, it's canon.
22.George Lucas has a cameo in Revenge of the Sith.
He plays a Pantoran senator by the name of Notluwiski Papanoida. Notluwiski appears in an episode of The Clone Wars, where he is voiced by Corey Burton. Papanoida was a Baron who became Supreme Chairman of the Pantoran Assembly during the Clone Wars. Not bad, George!
23.C-3PO says that the Festival of the Ancestors happens every 42 years, and that's the amount of time between A New Hope and The Rise of Skywalker.
It's quite the feat to have a film franchise go past 40 years. It's only fitting that the celebration on Pasaana is the Festival of Ancestors, because Star Wars is all about family. It proves once more that C-3PO is the biggest sentimental softie in Star Wars.