This article contains spoilers for The Book of Boba Fett episode 5
Dave Filoni loves dropping references to the wider Star Wars universe. Just this week, we got a fun nod to video game Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, as well as the Mandalorian storyline building on what was established in Rebels. But there was also an incredibly obscure reference to A New Hope in this week’s The Book of Boba Fett, one that will likely be missed by 99.9% of viewers.
A large part of this episode saw guest star Din Djarin revisiting Peli Motto’s workshop on Tatooine, where the pair fixed up an ancient Naboo starfighter as his new ride. In a testament to the skills of the two stars, they made simply asking for all manner of bizarre space engine parts very entertaining. During this sequence, Motto revealed she buys her parts from Jawas (she’s even dated one!), with Din asking that they get him a “cryogenic density combustion booster”.
The Jawas deliver, with the part apparently giving Din’s new ship a major speed boost. But truly eagle-eyed Star Wars fans may find the long cylindrical booster strangely familiar…
That’s because we’ve previously seen it, all the way back in 1977’s A New Hope. In the Death Star trash compactor scene, Han tried to brace the walls with a piece of junk, which is the exact model of booster from this week’s episode. Given that it’s an apparently highly-prized bit of kit, we can assume the trashed version was either completely busted, or the Empire didn’t realize the valuable trinket they had on their hands.
None of that means anything to the story, though, but it’s nonetheless the kind of fun attention to detail that proves Filoni and the rest of the creative team care about every little thing that makes it to the screen. The only downside was that I felt like an enormous geek for picking up on this, but these little nods really build up the idea of a cohesive universe.
Here’s hoping for further deep cuts in the remaining two episodes of The Book of Boba Fett, which releases Wednesdays on Disney Plus.
