If you’re a diehard, lifelong fan of Star Wars and you got handed the directing job to one of the most important movies in the whole saga, you’d probably find it difficult to resist giving yourself a little cameo. And sure enough, that’s exactly what Rian Johnson did.
Yet, upon the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, not even the most eagle-eyed of fans managed to spot his extremely subtle appearance. Now, though, courtesy of the film’s commentary track, we finally have confirmation on what it was: a close-up of a gloved hand clutching Han Solo’s golden dice from the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon.
If your memory is a bit hazy, the shot comes close to the climax of the film, when Luke apparently appears to save the day. During his touching reunion with Carrie Fisher’s General Leia, he hands her the dice. It’s in this shot that Rian Johnson’s hand substitutes for Hamill’s. Interestingly, this means that technically the director has now played Luke Skywalker on screen, news which is sure to be greeted with the calmness and perspective that The Last Jedi haters famously displayed late last year.
But Johnson’s cameo is just one of many in The Last Jedi. Joseph Gordon-Levitt secretly appeared as Canto Bight resident Slowen-Lo (the guy who was angry that Finn and Rose parked on the beach), Mark Hamill’s children were background pilots, Warwick Davis played an alien gambler, Rogue One director Gareth Edwards showed up as a Resistance fighter, and Prince William, Prince Harry, Tom Hardy and Gary Barlow all played Stormtroopers (though their scene was cut from the film). Heck, even Hamill himself had a cameo – doing the voice of yet another Canto Bight alien gambler.
And now that Star Wars: The Last Jedi is out on Digital HD – with its Blu-ray release due on March 27th – you can hunt them all down for yourself the next time you watch the film.
