10 Easter Eggs From Rogue One: A Star Wars Story You May Have Missed

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story has proven to be a huge treat for devotees of the galaxy far, far away, as it contains a whole spaceship-full of fan service, both obvious and slight. We've known for a long time that it would revolve around the original Death Star and feature Darth Vader in a supporting role, but fans weren't expecting it to be quite as much of an easter egg fest as it was. From cameos to name-checks to blink-and-you'll-miss it details, here are 10 of the most easily-missed easter eggs in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. We think we managed to catch most of them, but if we left off any important ones, be sure to let us know by commenting down below. Of course, spoilers will follow. So if you haven't yet seen the film, be sure to bookmark this page and return at a later date. 10) Saw Gerrera In Live-Action If you're a follower of Star Wars outside of the movies, you'll know that Saw Gerrera is not a character unique to Rogue One. He previously appeared in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series, and has been confirmed to re-appear on Star Wars Rebels (this time played by Rogue One actor Forest Whitaker). However, his presence in the movie might be more of a reference to George Lucas's original plan for the character. Gerrera is actually a creation of Lucas', and was intended to star in his own live-action TV series. To set up the show, he was inserted in The Clone Wars to fill in his backstory and test the water with the fans. What with the selling of Lucasfilm to Disney, however, Lucas's project never came to light - though there are ideas for a new live-action Star Wars TV series rolling around. Rogue One finally gives Saw his chance at live-action, however, which might have been one of the reasons why Lucas reportedly gave it his seal of approval. 9) Bantha Milk Given that it's a prequel, Rogue One contains a huge amount of references to A New Hope. These range from the obvious - the ending featuring Princess Leia directly leads into the start of the movie - to the less noticeable - Mos Eisley residents Ponda Baby and Dr. Evazan appear at one point. The most easily-missed, however, occurs in the opening sequence set at the Erso household, as Jyn's father Galen is taken hostage by Director Krennic and his Imperial forces. On the family table, we can briefly see a glass of what looks like blue milk. You might remember this funky-looking stuff adorning the dinner table of Luke's aunt and uncle in the original Star Wars movie. It's actually Bantha Milk, produced by a moose/cow-like creature native to Tatooine. Presumably, it's popular enough to be shipped around the galaxy, including the planet Lah-Mu where the Ersos were lying low. 8) Darth Vader's Castle When we first meet Darth Vader in Rogue One, we finally get to see his home sweet home. Naturally, for such a dark character he lives in a foreboding castle on a volcanic planet. Cleverly, this is actually a two-way easter egg. First of all, the more obvious of the two is that this planet is most likely Mustafar. Or, as fans know it, the planet where Anakin and Obi-Wan had their big showdown in Revenge of the Sith, resulting in the loss of Anakin's legs and terrible disfiguring burns. Perhaps he remained on the world to remind him of where his humanity was extinguished. Secondly, this isn't the first time Darth has been said to live on a lava planet. Originally, Return of the Jedi was set to feature scenes set in Darth's castle, but they didn't make it past the concept art stage (see above). A reference was later made to the place in Star Wars Rebels and now, we've finally seen it in action. 7) Bacta Tube Another first for Darth Vader in Rogue One occurs when we learn that he spends his free time recuperating in a tube of fluids in an attempt to heal his extensive wounds. If said tube looks familiar, that's because Vader's own son Luke previously used one that looked very much like it to heal his own injuries. Back in The Empire Strikes Back, Luke is attacked by a wampa on Hoth and is put in a Bacta tank, which completely heals his abrasions. Clearly, taking a bath in lava is harder to heal than Luke's ordeal so Vader's Bacta tank probably only acts as an ongoing treatment rather than an instant cure. When he gets out of the tank, we see him don his iconic helmet, cape and armour for the first time in the movie. Proving the incredible attention to detail that this film has, hardcore fans of Vader will notice that his suit here is modelled after the slightly duller model from A New Hope that possesses different dimensions from the model used in the later two original trilogy movies. 6) "I Have A Bad Feeling About this" You might know that the oft-used phrase "I have a bad feeling about this" has been recited in every single Star Wars movie to date. Luke and Han both said the line in A New Hope, before Leia, Threepio and Han repeated it in Empire and Return respectively. The prequels and Force Awakens kept the tradition alive, where it was said by Obi-Wan, Anakin, Obi-Wan again and finally Han. To fit the spinoff nature of Rogue One, the line is given a twist in the movie. It's K2SO's turn to say the phrase this time, as he, Jyn and Cassian enter a lift on Scarif. The twist, though, is that he's interrupted before he completes it. While Rogue One paid lip service to this tradition, it surprisingly eschewed the usual moment when a character would lose a limb, which had previously happened in every Star Wars film. While this event does not happen on screen, at least one character is missing a leg. Namely, Saw Gerrera, who's seen sporting a robotic leg along with his Vader-esque life-support cybernetically-enhanced body. Another fixture of the series that made it into the film is Warwick Davis. Davis has appeared in several Star Wars movies to date, from his role as Wicket the Ewok in Return of the Jedi to one of the patrons in Maz Kanata's castle in The Force Awakens. In Rogue One, he plays a member of Saw Gerrera's rebels. 5) Godzilla Cave Painting It's hard to spot in the film itself, but some nods to past movies of director Gareth Edwards are hidden in Rogue One, namely on the cave wall of Saw Gerrera's hideout on Jedha. The eagle-eyed among us will make out the M.U.T.O.s from his 2014 reboot of Godzilla, as well as the kaiju dinosaur himself. Edwards's lesser-known debut work from 2010, Monsters, also gets a reference, with the titular tentacled creatures from the movie making an appearance on the cave wall, too. We know this as Edwards confirmed the existence of the easter eggs in a recent interview, though he admitted that their inclusion wasn't a bit of egotism on his part but an in-joke put in by the set designers. "I didn’t ask for it, they just did it as a joke," he said. "I came in one day and spotted it in the middle of a take. 4) Rian Johnson Cameo Speaking of directors, while Edwards was busy with Rogue One, Rian Johnson was working on the next mainline Star Wars movie, the still-untitled Episode VIII due out next December. Edwards felt the need to tip his hat to his successor in the director's chair, as the Looper helmer turns up for a brief cameo in the movie. Johnson and his producer Ram Bergman appear in the film as a couple of Death Star technicians in a key scene, and their roles were no accident... "My producer Ram and I – we chose wisely," Johnson explained, back at the Star Wars Celebration this summer. "We chose the two dudes that we knew would be in the movie. They can’t cut us out because we’re the two dudes in the firing chamber on the Death Star who pull the levers." In turn, Gareth Edwards was offered a role in Episode VIII. We also know that Edwards is hidden in Rogue One somewhere, as he's admitted that he appears somewhere in the first scene of the movie. So far, though, no one has spotted him. 3) Mon Mothma/General Dodonna/Captain Antilles You can't fail to have noticed the return of major players like Princess Leia and Artoo and Threepio, but these members of the rebellion also made less noticeable appearances. Fans will recognize Rebellion leader Mon Mothma from Return of the Jedi, where she was played by Caroline Blakiston. Here, the character is played by Genevieve O'Reilly. In a nice bit of continuity, the actress previously played the part in Revenge of the Sith - but all her scenes were cut from the finished film. Likewise, General Dodonna is another character from the original trilogy who is recast. Alex McCrindle played the man who plans the attack on the Death Star in A New Hope and Ian McElhinney portrays him here. Finally, Captain Antilles is mentioned at one point. He's the unfortunate fellow who is Force-choked by Vader in A New Hope. Most would have noticed that Bail Organa reappears here, as played by Jimmy Smits who also played the character in the prequels. In one scene, he mentions his old Jedi friend who's in retirement and a "she" that he "trusts with his life." These are obvious references to Obi-Wan Kenobi and his adopted daughter Leia. 2) A New Hope Unused Footage During the triumphant final act of Rogue One, the band of renegades are helped out by the Rebel Alliance fleet in all its glory. To complete the harking back to A New Hope, deleted footage from that movie is spliced in. Most notably, two characters from the original movie, Gold Leader and Red Leader (as played by Drew Henley and Angus McInnes), are among the fleet. Another easily-missed connection between the two movies is the callsign Red Five. One pilot going under the sign was killed in the battle over Scarif. This then leaves the callsign vacant, ready for Luke to take it up when he joins the Rebels in A New Hope. Similarly, Rogue One reaffirms that women are among the Rebel pilots. There were originally three female pilots in A New Hope but all were edited out of the final cut. One of Rogue One's female pilots is voiced by Star Wars Rebels actress Vanessa Marshall. Speaking of which... 1) Star Wars Rebels References Here's something you might not know: the story of Rogue One was originally conceived as an episode of a proposed live-action Star Wars TV series that eventually fell through when Disney bought the property. Instead, the series was very loosely adapted as animated show Star Wars Rebels. Fittingly, Rogue One references the series in several subtle ways. First up, speaking of Vanessa Marshall, her character on Rebels gets a name-check in the movie. When the Rebel forces are preparing to take off from Yavin, "General Syndulla" is mentioned over the tannoy system. This is an obvious reference to Hera, the captain of the Ghost. ... Which also appears in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story! The ship - notable for its distinctive diamond shape and four thrusters on the back - can be seen in the assault on Scarif. In the same shot, you can see a Hammerhead corvette, which also first appeared on Rebels (although it was heavily based on the Hammerhead cruiseliners from The Knights of the Republic video game). While this is going on above, during Jyn and Cassian's search for the Death Star plans, another Rebels reference occurs. In amongst the files is one marked "Black Saber." This is presumably a nod to the Dark Saber wielded by a resurrected Darth Maul in the show. Lastly, faithful Rebel droid Chopper can be seen rolling along at the Rebel base on Yavin. This high level of synergy between the film and TV divisions of the franchise is a joy to behold from fans, and we really hope that future films will follow suit.