Spoiler alert! We're discussing a few plot details from "The Mandalorian and Grogu" (in theaters now), so turn away if you haven't seen the movie yet and don't want to know.
As long asthe Mandalorian and Groguhave been traipsing around the galaxy, "Star Wars" fans have been pointing at the screen and proclaiming, "I understood that reference."
"The Mandalorian and Grogu" is packed with scenes that echo classic moments from "Star Wars" history. The snowy opening action sequence evokes the Hoth battle that started "The Empire Strikes Back," and when the Hutts make Mando fight a giant snake, it's like a mashup of the trash compactor from "A New Hope" and the Rancor pit from "Return of the Jedi."
But beyond the obvious callbacks, "The Mandalorian" has always been a gold mine of more obscure "Star Wars" references, Easter eggs and cameos for diehards to eat up, and the film is no exception. Here are the best ones you may have missed.
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Martin Scorsese's character is related to Jon Favreau's from 'Solo'
Martin Scorsesehas a fun role as an alien fry cook, who gives Mando information on his quest. The legendary filmmaker's character is an Ardennian, a monkey-like alien species created for the 2018 Han Solo spinoff movie "Solo: A Star Wars Story."
In "Solo," Han met an Ardennian pilot named Rio Durant, who was voiced by "Mandalorian and Grogu" director Jon Favreau.
But these two aren't just the same species. Scorsese's character is named Hugo Durant, so he is apparently a relative of Rio Durant from "Solo" (though Rio doesn't appear in "Grogu" after dying tragically in "Solo"). The first name of Scorsese's character is presumably a nod to the director's 2011 movie "Hugo."
Sigourney Weaver's deck of cards has a link to Han Solo
When Mando tellsSigourney Weaver's Colonel Wardhe'll take out "every bad guy in your deck of cards," he isn't being metaphorical: She has a literal deck of cards, each of which has the name of an Imperial warlord on the New Republic's radar.
These are modified versions of playing cards from a deck of sabacc, the card game Han Solo was playing when he won the Millennium Falcon from Lando Calrissian, as mentioned in "The Empire Strikes Back" and depicted in "Solo: A Star Wars Story."
The cards Ward shows Mando come from an adapted sabacc deck that the New Republic created. According to the 2024 book "The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire," each card in the deck features "the last known image of a wanted Imperial fugitive," and the goal was for these cards to circulate throughout the galaxy and help the wider population to identify the Imperials.
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A fight sequence brings a classic 'New Hope' prop to life
Rotta the Hutt (Jeremy Allen White) is forced to fight in what is dubbed a Dejarik match, where creatures are unleashed in an arena.
It's called that because Dejarik is the holographic game Chewbacca and R2-D2 played on the Millennium Falcon in "A New Hope" in the scene where C-3PO memorably recommends that R2 "let the Wookiee win." The game, which popped back up in "The Force Awakens" and "The Rise of Skywalker," uses holographic versions of alien creatures as the pieces.
So in "Grogu," the arena fight with all the creatures is essentially a Dejarik game come to life, to the point that the arena's floor is even designed to resemble a Dejarik board.
Rotta the Hutt's baby photo is a sneaky callback
"The Mandalorian and Grogu" isn't our introduction to Rotta. Jabba's son was also a significant character in the 2008 animated film "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," which involved Rotta being kidnapped by Count Dooku. But Rotta was still a baby in that movie, making him essentially Baby Jabba, years before we had a Baby Yoda.
So in "Grogu," when the Hutt twins show Mando a hologram of Rotta and note he has had a growth spurt since then, it's both a joke about how out of date that image is and a nod to how he looked the last time fans saw him. The hologram in "Grogu" is an impressively faithful recreation of Rotta's appearance from the "Clone Wars" movie.
Fan-favorite animated characters jump to live action
Speaking of "The Clone Wars," "Star Wars" fans who only watch the live-action material may not even realize Embo, the bounty hunter who captures Mando, is a returning character.
Embo was introduced on "The Clone Wars" animated series in a 2010 episode. The show established Embo's relationship with the Hutts, for whom he worked as a bodyguard, and he also had wolf-like pet on the show like he does in the movie.
Zeb, the purple alien from the New Republic who teams up with Mando, isn't new, either. He's from the Disney XD series "Star Wars Rebels," which featured Zeb fighting the Empire alongside fellow rebels Ezra Bridger, Hera Syndulla and Sabine Wren, all of whom were brought to live action in the "Ahsoka" show.
A prequel alien species makes a return
A number of familiar alien species pop up, but there's one in particular that prequel fans should get a kick out of. The scary-looking fellow who Mando encounters on his way to see Lord Janu (Jonny Coyne) is an Iktotchi named Hogsbreth, played by Matthew Willig. That's the same kind of alien as Saesee Tiin, a member of the Jedi Council in "The Phantom Menace."
Carl Weathers gets a touching homage
Fans picked up on this one when it appeared in the trailer, but during the sequence after the gladiator battle where the creatures get loose, a sign can be seen written in Aurebesh, the "Star Wars" galaxy's fictional alphabet. Translated to English, it reads "Weathers Apollo," a nod toCarl Weathers. The "Mandalorian" actor, who also played Apollo Creed in the "Rocky" movies, died in 2024 at age 76.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:'The Mandalorian and Grogu' Easter eggs 'Star Wars' fans will love