Yahoo News 13 Solo: A Star Wars Story Easter eggs
Warning: This article contains spoilers for Solo: A Star Wars Story
A Star Wars spin-off starring one of the franchise's biggest characters in a world of smugglers and bounty hunters? You bet your life Solo: A Star Wars Story is packed with Easter eggs and references to the galaxy far, far away.
Set in the darkest years of the Empire's rule, the movie hints at the actions of many familiar characters behind the scenes, and has some fun calling back to some classic Star Wars lines.
1. Golden dice
What began as a background prop in the original films has risen to some significant Star Wars prominence, thanks firstly to The Last Jedi and now Solo.
We see that Han had them even as a young man, and they come to symbolise his relationship with his fellow orphan, Qi'ra (Emilia Clarke).
2. The Hutt Cartel
One of the crime syndicates mentioned by Qi'ra as a danger to young people on the run is the Hutt Cartel. The Hutt species are known for their attraction to organised crime, and the cartel is made up of powerful families that control shady enterprises across the galaxy.
One of their leaders is a chap called Jabba. You may have heard of him.
3. Imperial March
You can't have failed to miss the Empire's iconic theme playing in the movie when Han hurriedly signs up to the academy. Apparently, they like to use it in their recruitment material.
4. Flyboy
Han must have been used to being dismissed as a 'flyboy' by the time Leia came on the scene.
Rio Durany (the four-armed Ardennian pilot voiced by Jon Favreau) conspicuously asks, "What's a fancy flyboy doing down in the mud?" when he first encounters Han. There must be something about his face.
5. Bossk
One of the mercenaries listed as better potential candidates for Tobias Beckett's mission is Bossk. You know him as the lizard man (Trandoshan) who was one of the bounty hunters Darth Vader hired to hunt Han in The Empire Strikes Back.
He fails miserably, but the wonderful thing about Star Wars is that even the most minor background characters get a name and history.
6. Scarif
The tropical paradise planet is home to an Imperial base – and its vault full of the starship fuel coaxium is dismissed as an impossible mark for Beckett and his crew.
It isn't until Rogue One: A Star Wars Story that a ragtag group of rebellious types would manage to infiltrate Scarif and – spoiler alert! – it doesn't go particularly well for them.
7. Han knows everything
Another callback from the original trilogy is an exchange between Lando and Han.
But unlike Leia, Lando "hates" Han. His response, however, is the same. "I know."
8. Aurra Sing
Another bounty hunter, Aurra Sing is briefly seen watching the pod race in The Phantom Menace. She showed up in the Clone Wars cartoon as an ally of the young Boba Fett (along with Bossk).
If you ever wondered why she isn't in the later films, now we know – Beckett killed her.
9. Lando hates mining
"Mining colonies are the worst," observes Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover) when the team make their landing on Kessel.
He might not suspect that he would eventually end up as Baron Administrator of the Tibanna gas mining colony Cloud City on Bespin, which is where we first met him in The Empire Strikes Back. Or maybe he does, as there is a Cloud City model on the Millennium Falcon already.
10. A familiar disguise
Beckett dons a disguise when he pretends to be Qi'ra's bodyguard for the Kessel mission.
If his distinctive helmet and breastplate seems familiar, it's because someone hangs on to them, and they are worn again by Lando during the infiltration of Jabba's palace in Return of the Jedi, where he went by the alias 'Tamtel Skreej'.
11. 12 Parsecs
Solo finally reveals the story of Han's famous Kessel Run, which he completed in 12 parsecs. That turns out to be quite the feat, as the standard is 20.
Although, as Chewbacca apparently points out, it's only 12 if you round down.
12. "Big shot gangster"
"A big-shot gangster is putting together a crew," Beckett tells Han (in a line taken from the trailer). This gangster is based on Tatooine, and is clearly meant to be Jabba – allowing the film to tease Han's meeting with the crime lord (and their eventually falling out).
13. The spark of Rebellion
Enfys Nest refers to coaxium as "the blood that brings life to something new". The implication is that her gang might be involved in the founding of the Rebellion – much as Hera Syndulla and her allies in Star Wars Rebels were another cell that became part of the bigger resistance against the Empire.
Solo: A Star Wars Story will be released on May 24 in the UK and on May 25 in the US. Book tickets here.
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