Some Great “Call Backs” That Connect Star Wars Films

The Star Wars franchise has some awesome “call-back moments” that join the movies up. When we say “callbacks,” we're talking about how the Star Wars movies each have moments where they reference each other. 

Here are some classic moments where the scriptwriters took the time to match things up.

Things That Go Bump on the Death Star

Remember that Storm Trooper that bumped his head in A New Hope? That goof became the stuff of legend among Star Wars fans – so much so that when George Lucas decided Jango Fett was to be the “father” of the Clone Army, this “bump” was called back as an actual character trait of Jango. 

In Attack of the Clones when the Mandalorian Jango Fett gets into his ship after his tete-a-tete with Obi-Wan Kenobi, he bangs his head on the open door.

Grand Moff Tarkin's Revenge of the Sith Blink-and-You'll-Miss-Him Cameo

Remember this guy from A New Hope? Tarkin is the dude who ordered the destruction of planet Alderaan, the home of the Organa family and millions of other voices. 

The quick character cameo occurs at the end of Revenge of the Sith when Darth Vader and the Emperor are standing on the bridge of a Star Destroyer, overlooking the initial construction stage of the Death Star. In a blink-and-you-‘ll-miss-it moment, a younger Tarkin quietly sidles up to the Sith Lords.

Tarkin was also brought back from the dead as a CGI animation for Rogue One. This means Tarkin appeared in three Star Wars movies in a row (for the timeline).

Vader's Murder of the Younglings

The killing of the Younglings in Revenge of the Sith was a pretty obvious severe call back to the prior film, Attack of the Clones. While the murder is off-screen, it is blatant what the freshly anointed Vader has just done – he has murdered innocent children and there's nothing so unsubtle as that. 

In Attack of the Clones, recall the scene where, in front of the Younglings, Obi-Wan and Yoda chat about how Obi-Wan has lost a planet (how embarrassing!). This is the same type of class where Yoda is teaching young ones about being a Jedi. In hindsight, it's a brutal setup.

“I've got a bad feeling about this…”

This line is stated by so many major characters, you just expect this line to be in every Star Wars movie you see.

“I Love You/I Know”

So said Princess Leia to Han Solo as he was about to be frozen in carbonite. Ford's ad-libbed reply of ” I Know” is the stuff of Hollywood legend. 

The call back came in Return of the Jedi when, just after Han Solo grabbed Leia's breasts, the lines were reversed. 

The line was also used by Poe Dameron to Rey in The Last Jedi and one more by Han Solo to Ben in The Rise of Skywalker.

“You will die”

During Revenge of the Sith, Mace Windu and Palpatine battled it out and Windu won the duel (something Yoda couldn't do, even when Mace had softened the Emperor up for him). Palpatine no longer pretends he is anything but a Sith Lord. He launches a lightning bolt attack on Windu with the words “you will die“. 

This is a call back to Return of the Jedi when Luke Skywalker has resolved not to kill his father and join the Dark Side. It annoys the Emperor, who confirms Luke is now a Jedi and stuns him with a few thousand bolts of Force lightning. He pauses and says “And now, you will die.” Great work, scriptwriters, great work.

The Force Awakens

The Force Awakens movie was basically a well-executed rehash of all the famous Star Wars moments, revisited in different guises.

 

Jakku is a stand-in for Tatooine, Rey's heroism matches Luke, and Maz Kanata's Castle can be likened to the Cantina. and so forth.

 

The movie is basically a collection of the greatest hits from the Star Wars universe and there's one hit that we think is a brilliant call back to the film that started it all, A New Hope. 

 

When Finn is tending to Chewbacca's injury, he looks for something to use and pulls out the training remote that Luke used under the tutelage of Obi-Wan 30-odd years beforehand. It's a blink-and-you-‘ll-miss moment but it's a nice wink to the past. Rey again uses one in The Rise of Skywalker.

If you didn't like that, this little factoid may brighten your smile: You know when Finn bumps the digital chess board (the game is actually called Dejarik)? The game that starts up is the uncompleted game that Chewbacca and R2-D2 played in A New Hope.

What Did Rogue One Offer?

Rogue One also featured a few callbacks, especially to A New Hope. While the plot connections between the movies are fairly straightforward for us, the callback we like the best is pretty awesome and it doesn't matter in which order the movies are watched.

At the end of Rogue One, Leia's quote is that she has been brought “hope” in the form of the Death Star plans. In A New Hope, Leia refers to Kenobi as being her “only hope.” With the entire theme of Rogue One being about hope (Jyn says that “Rebellions are built on hope”), the callback is pretty strong.

The Last Jedi Snuck a Few in Too

When Luke is on the Millenium Falcon, R2-D2 shows him the old hologram projection of Leia seeking help from General Kenobi. This is a blatantly obvious reference to A New Hope.

After Rey and Kylo have defeated Snoke's Royal Guard, Kylo makes it clear he is seizing control of the First Order and invites Rey to join him. Vader made the same offer to his Luke in The Empire Strikes Back. Both Luke and Rey refused the offer.

When Leia reunites with Luke on Crait, she mentions her hair. This is a call back to The Force Awakens when Han Solo mentions the change when they too reunite. Here are some more callbacks found in The Last Jedi.

The Falcon's dice were carried over from a deleted scene in The Force Awakens and they also turned up in the Solo movie.

Speaking of which…

Han Solo Movie

Darth Maul‘s cameo at the end is a big callback. He is shown to still be alive, even though Obi-Wan Kenobi sliced him in half in The Phantom Menace.

The Clone Wars and Rebels (set after Solo) showed Maul survived his duel with Kenobi which means he is able to turn up as the lead of one of the crime syndicates, the Crimson Dawn.

When Han is stuck in the mud, while he's fighting the beast, this post echoes that of him being stuck in carbonate in The Empire Strikes Back.

The Mandalorian also has plenty of callbacks – “Life Day” from the television special, Salacious Crumb beasts being cooked on a BBQ spit, and the Mandalorian riding a Blerg is a straight-up call back to the cartoon segment of the Holiday Special in which Boba Fett rides a similar-looking beast.

The Rise of Skywalker made some cool callbacks that connected the sequel trilogy, our favorite being when Ray used a sled on the sand at the Skywalker moisture farm.

That's all for now!

This article was produced and syndicated by Wealth of Geeks.