STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI - EASTER EGGS, TRIVIA, AND THINGS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED
Disclaimer: I did not find all of these easter eggs myself. I watched many Youtube videos and read many articles and gathered the best easter eggs and connections to the Star Wars movies and I compiled them into one organized post. Enjoy!
Mark Hamill played 2 characters
Of course, Mark Hamill plays Luke Skywalker in The Last Jedi, however, he also had a secret second role! Mark Hamill asked director Rian Johnson to give him someone to play in the movie’s Canto Bight casino scene. He plays a CGI character (and changes his voice) for a character by the name of Dobbu Scay. It’s unknown at the moment who Dobbu Scay was in the scene, but we do know that the name is an anagram for editor Bob Duscay.
Leia trained to be a Jedi
It was understood in the script, though not necessarily in the film, that Leia had begun training as a Jedi shortly after the events of Return of the Jedi. Motherhood, and later, discord in the Galactic Senate caused her to cut short her tutoring. This explains how she is able to use the Force to create a bubble of air around her and return to her ship after the bridge of the Raddus is destroyed. An entry in the canonical tie-in Visual Dictionary confirmed this as well.
(below: art by Jason Felix)
Clues that Luke wasn’t actually on Crait:
Luke looks much different than how he looks most of the film, with a shorter, darker haircut and darker clothes
His lightsaber was blue. Luke’s blue lightsaber was the one that he lost in Empire Strikes Back and eventually gets destroyed in The Last Jedi. After Empire Strikes Back, Luke has a green lightsaber.
It is established that there is no way in or out of the base
Luke’s X-Wing is shown to be underwater on Ach-To, indicating there is no way off the island after Rey leaves.
He makes no footprints on Crait. The film zooms in on Kylo’s red footprints during the scene, since the planet of Crait is covered in salt. Luke makes no footprints at all, since he isn’t actually there.
In the film, Yoda beats Luke to burning the tree (which contain the ancient Jedi texts), and says that Rey already knows everything that the books could tell her. Later in the film, when Finn gets Rose a blanket on the Millennium Falcon, the books are there in a blink and you’ll miss it moment! This teases that Rey could have stolen the books and Yoda was covering for her.
The tree on Ach To protecting the Jedi texts is known as an Uneti tree. The character Chirrut Imwe from Rogue One carries a stick made out of wood that comes from the same type of tree wood. Also, in the film, Rey is drawn to an ancient tree and the library by a chorus of whispers; those whispers are actually a chant with a connection to “Star Wars Legends” and the Force, saying “some sort of Force mantra”, as sound editor Matt Wood described.
Once the title was revealed, many people speculated who the last Jedi could be. Throughout the press tour, director Rian Johnson insisted that Luke was always who the title was referring to “in his mind”. In the film, it is confirmed that Luke was the last Jedi, however, after his death, the last Jedi is now Rey.
It was claimed that Rey’s parentage would be discussed in The Last Jedi, and when Kylo tries to convince Rey to join him, he tells her that her parents are nobody, and that she knows its true. Many fans speculated on who her parents could be since the release of The Force Awakens, and were taken aback by Kylo’s claim. It is unknown whether or not his words are the truth as no official confirmation was made and Kylo could be lying just to get her to join him.
In the Star Wars Battlefront 2 video game, Luke finds a compass. And in The Last Jedi, Luke is shown to have the same compass in his hut, which could have helped him find Ach To.
When we see Rey handing Luke the lightsaber at the beginning of the film, it zooms in on a shot of their hands and Luke’s robotic hand is shown to have a burn mark on it. This burn mark is a result of a blaster shot from the fight at the Sarlacc Pit in Return of the Jedi.
In the film, Luke refers to lightsabers as “laser swords”, which is a reference to George Lucas, who called them laser swords before they came up with “lightsabers”.
In A New Hope, we see blue milk at Luke’s home on Tatooine. Then, in Rogue One, as an easter egg, we see blue milk again. And in The Last Jedi, we see Luke milking one of the animals on Ahch To and drinks its milk. While some people say they see it as the classic blue milk, others claim they see it as green (I did too).
When Rey looks on the cliff at Ahch To, she notices that there is a sunken X-Wing in the water, which is what got him to the island; this is also a reference to his training on Dagobah.
When Rey busts in on Luke’s hut, you can tell that the door to Luke’s home is a re-used piece of Luke’s X-Wing. In addition to that, this easter egg goes even even deeper since in Empire Strikes Back, Yoda’s hut on Dagobah was similarly fashioned out of his escape pod from Revenge of the Sith.
Many celebrities had cameos in The Last Jedi.
Joseph Gordon Levitt and Noah Segan: Joseph Gordon Levitt and Noah Segan, were in director Rian Johnson’s first film, Brick. Since then, Rian included them in every film he worked on since (The Brothers Bloom, Looper and now The Last Jedi). Segan appears briefly as a Resistance X-Wing pilot, while Levitt appears as a voice actor, playing the character of Slowen Lo in the casino scene. He’s the one who rats Finn and Rose out to the casino guards.
Justin Theroux and Lily Cole: Justin Theroux (from the Leftovers, Jennifer Anniston’s husband); he played the master codebreaker that Finn and Rose were looking for, the man who was gambling and wearing the lapel pin and white suit. British model Lily Cole played his girlfriend.
Warwick Davis is the character who mistakes BB-8 for a slot machine.
Some reports claim that Princes William and Harry had cut cameos as stormtroopers, whereas other reports say that the Princes are the stormtroopers in the elevator when Finn, Rose, and DJ are on board the ship to disable the tracker.
Tom Hardy and Gary Barlow are the stormtroopers with the weapons to kill Finn and Rose at Phasma’s command.
Ellie Goulding is one of the background soliders on the Resistance’s main ship, the Raddus.
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this”
The phrase “I’ve got a bad feeling about this” is in every Star Wars film to date, but shocked fans as it didn’t seem to be in The Last Jedi! The reason for that was that it wasn’t said in English - it was said by BB-8!
While lightsabres are used often in the film, there are no lightsabre on lightsabre fights. The only time you see a pair of sabres clash, is in the Luke / Kylo flashback.
JJ Abrams started a trend in The Force Awakens, including Beastie Boys references in the sequel trilogy. In TFA, we saw a new type of creature known as the Abednedo, with the one we see named Ello Asty, a reference to the Beastie Boys album, Hello Nasty. Rian Johnson included a character from the same race named Slowen Lo (voiced by Joseph Gordon Levitt) asa reference to the Beastie Boys song “Slow and Low”. Since Abrams is directing Episode IX, it’s likely we’ll see another Abednedo character with a name inspired by the Beastie Boys. (below: Ello Asty)
Director cameos: Gareth Edwards & Edgar Wright
Gareth Edwards, director of Rogue One, has a cameo on The Last Jedi as a Resistance solider during the battle on Crait; he was next to the soldier that tastes the salt. Additionally, director of The Last Jedi, Rian Johnson, had a cameo as a stormtrooper in Rogue One. British director and Rian Johnson’s friend, Edgar Wright also has a cameo in this scene, as does Ant-Man writer, Joe Cornish.
(pictured below: Gareth Edwards’ cameo, followed by Edgar Wright, his brother Oscar, and Joe Cornish in costume, behind the scenes of their cameo)
Maz Kanata’s “The Rocketeer” Jetpack
In the film, Maz Kanata is seen over a hologram, wearing a rocketpack/jetpack and as she turns, you can see the details more clearly. This pack is designed to mirror the jetpack that is worn in the Disney film The Rocketeer.
In Rogue One, a character named Admiral Raddus, who was the head of the Alliance Fleet, sent his fleet to support Rogue One on their mission, which allowed the Rogue One squad to deliver the plans for the Death Star to Raddus’ ship. However, Raddus died when Darth Vader boarded his ship. However, he is not forgotten, as in The Last Jedi, the main Resistance cruiser is called The Raddus.
Foreshadowing in Kylo Ren flashback
In the flashback where we see what caused Ben Solo (aka Kylo Ren) to turn against Luke, a shot shows his lightsaber on his bedside table, with his calligraphy set/pen crossing the handle of the lightsaber; the placement of the calligraphy pen is placed to look like his future, Dark Side lightsaber (see below: credits to starwarsstuff on Twitter).
In The Last Jedi, Snoke is wearing a ring which has a deep meaning. The ring is made of obsidian mined from under Darth Vader’s castle, and it shows the Four Sages of Dwartii (Sistros, Faya, Yanjon, and Braata)
Throughout the Star Wars saga, in the 2nd movie of each trilogy (Original/Prequel/Sequel), the protagonist loses their hand (Luke/Anakin). However, in the Last Jedi, it is actually the antagonist, Snoke, who this happens to; Snoke loses his arm/hand when killed by Rey and Kylo. The lightsaber cuts through Snoke’s torso and arms. Thus, Snoke encounters the “limb loss” in a less than noticeable way, keeping in the tradition.
Carrie Fisher’s dog - Gary
In the scenes in Canto Bight, we see many different types of creatures in the casino, and one of the aliens (who appeared in an official still of the film) is actually the late Carrie Fisher’s dog, Gary, in costume! (He’s the dog-like creature on the man’s hand behind Rose). Apparently, when watching The Last Jedi, Gary recognized Carrie and his ears jerked up every time she was on screen.
In The Last Jedi, Luke gifts Leia with Han’s golden dice from the Millennium Falcon. The diceare considered an Easter Egg in the previous films, only appearing very briefly in A New Hope, since the prop guys forgot to include it in later scenes and films.
Admiral Akbar, who is best known for saying “It’s a trap!” in Return of the Jedi, appears in The Last Jedi, but unfortunately later dies as a result of a trap.
Luke refers to Emperor Palpatine as Darth Sidious, making it the first time we’ve heard anyone refer to him by his Sith title since the prequels.
Rey exploring the Dark Side
The entire scene where Rey explores the Dark Side’s pull is a call back to Luke’s experience with the Dark Side in Empire. And her heading into the Dark Side hole to find her parents, only to see her own reflection, is a call back to Luke fighting Vader, only to see his own face reflected back at him inside.
Battle on Crait / Battle on Hoth
The final battle between the Resistance and the First Order on Crait has a lot of similarities to the Battle of Hoth from Empire Strikes Back: the villains use walkers to assault a Rebel/Alliance base on a planet with a white surface, and the heroes use speeders to hold them off while everyone escapes.
Kylo taking Rey to Snoke: Return of the Jedi parallels
This entire scene is a parallel to one from Return of the Jedi, when Darth Vader brings Luke before the emperor. It’s all there:
Rey willingly goes to Kylo, just like Luke surrendering to Vader on Endor.
Rey is put in handcuffs - just like Luke
Snoke removes Rey’s handcuffs. just like the Emperor did to Luke.
While in the elevator going up to Snoke, Rey tells Kylo that there’s still good in him, just as Luke said to Vader on Endor.
The red-colored guards (Snoke’s Praetorian Guards and Palpatine’s Royal Guards)
Snoke making Rey look out the window at the Resistance fleet getting attacked, just like the Emperor telling Luke to watch the Rebel fleet get attacked.
Rey’s lightsaber on the arm of the chair, like the Emperor did with Luke’s
Rey tried to grab the lightsaber using the Force, just like Luke, but both were unsuccessful.
Rey and Luke being tortured
Kylo betrayed his master, Snoke, to save Rey just like Vader killed the Emperor to save his son.
When Snoke interrogates Rey using the force, the Emperor’s theme can be heard playing in the background, with the camera panning to Ren as this happens. This exact same moment happens in Return of the Jedi when the Emperor is shocking Luke with force lightning and the camera pans to Vader, with the same theme playing.
Luke and Obi Wan in battle
During his final scene with Kylo, Luke refenrces Obi Wan and quotes his line “”, and the way he stands and lets Kylo run through him, parallels what Obi-wan did when fighting Vader for the last time.
Moment before Luke’s death, he sees two setting suns, a direct visual callback to the sunset on Tatooine, when his journey first began.
Leia - A New Hope callbacks
A scene in the movie, Leia fires her blaster at Poe to stun him, and she is wearing all white with her head covered, just like when she fired on stormtroopers and was stunned by them stormtroopers in A New Hope. Of course, we also see R2D2 show Luke her message to Obi Wan.
When the new race creatures on Canto Bight, the Fathiers, stampede through the casino, a shot shows liquid in a glass on a table ripples due to their footsteps. This is a reference to the same way the water ripples when the T-Rex is approaching in Jurassic Park. (Laura Dern, who played Vice Admiral Holdo, starred in Jurassic Park as Dr. Sattler.)
Snake’s death is the second time a member of the Dark Side was cut in half from a lightsaber - the first person was Dark Maul, who was killed by Obi Wan in The Phantom Menace.
Kylo uses Vader’s flight tactics
During the space battle, Kylo Ren spins his fighter exactly the same way Anakin does in Episode 1.
Benecio Del Toro’s character (the codebreaker who helps the First Order) is never referred to by name in the film, but marketing material for the film refer to him as DJ. It was later found that the writings on his hat, are Arubesh (a language from the Star Wars universe) for “DON’T JOIN” (DJ), foreshadowing his betrayal. It is easier to see on the Funko Pop doll version of DJ, which was released months before the movie, a clue to his character’s role spotted by fans. Additionally, his character is a parallel to Lando in Empire Strikes Back - both are characters who seemingly help our heroes but are secretly helping the enemies instead.
When Han reunites with Leia in The Force Awakens, he says “you’ve changed your hair”. When Leia meets Luke in “The Last Jedi”, she says “I’ve changed my hair”.
Luke’s blue and green lightsabers
This is the first Star Wars movie where we see Luke using both his blue lightsaber (which had belonged to his father Anakin, and which is now wielded by Rey) and his green lightsaber.
This is the first live-action movie in the franchise to break with the tradition to have a member of the Skywalker family in the closing shot. All previous movies included either Anakin, Luke and/or Leia in the final shot. Although Luke and Leia feature in the final scene, the closing shot only shows one of the young slave boys on the casino planet Canto Bight.
The final shot of the movie shows a kid on Canto Bight mopping, then with the Resistance ring and staring at the stars with hope. However, many people missed the fact that the child is Force-sensitive; when he reaches out to the mop, instead of grabbing it, it moves to his hand.
BONUS: THE LAST JEDI FORESHADOWING IN ROGUE ONE
In The Last Jedi, when the Resistance escapes the First Order after fleeing their old base on D'Qar, they jump into hyperspace and land in the middle of nowhere, as Finn says. But soon the First Order catches up to them, revealing that they have figured out how to track ships through lightspeed. It is a big deal since no one has been able to track ships through lightspeed until then. However, this plot point was subtly foreshadowed in Rogue One! Towards the end of Rogue One, when Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor are searching for the Death Star plans in the Scarif data banks, she mentions some of the projects in the Imperial archives, including “hyperspace tracking”! This means that the Empire had been working on the technology used in The Last Jedi during the time of the Rebellion, and that the First Order developed and used it against the Resistance. This Easter egg was discovered when Lucasfilm executive Pablo Hidalgo quoted a fan’s tweet that pointed out the connection (x).
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