Solo: A Star Wars Story was chock-full of Easter eggs and references.
With the help of my friend Brian Young from the Full of Sith podcast,
I've compiled a list of as many as I could find and I'm gonna run through them rapid-fire.
It should go without saying but spoilers for the movie are ahead.
The movie opens on Corellia, which is a planet named all the way back in A New Hope.
It played a significant role in the Legends continuity, but this is its first on-screen appearance.
Han's dice also made their first appearance in A New Hope but were displayed much more prominently in The Last Jedi and this film.
As Han looks for a place to hide from Moloch he heads into an Imperial recruitment center, which is playing the Imperial Anthem.
That music is actually just the Imperial March played in a major key
and it first appeared during a parade in the Star Wars Rebels episode "Empire Day."
When Han escapes Corellia, he is sent to the Imperial Academy on Carida.
He was trained at that exact same academy in Legends.
Shortly after, we see him on the planet Mimban,
which was one of the very first planets ever created for the old EU in the 1978 book, "Splinter of the Mind's Eye."
Its muddy surface in the film is consistent with its description in the book.
The official guide for Solo places the planet in the Circarpous sector, which is the same in Legends.
The Clone Wars series made a reference to the 224th Division, also known as the Mud-Jumpers out on Mimban in the episode "Rookies."
After joining up with Beckett and his crew, Han and Chewie traveled to Vandor.
It also had Legends origins in the Jedi Apprentice series of books, but its location in the galaxy has changed completely.
Val asks Beckett why they didn't ask Bossk for help on the job,
giving a shout-out to the Trandoshan bounty hunter first introduced in The Empire Strikes Back.
It's probably good he wasn't there because he and Chewbacca would not have cooperated.
In the same scene, Chewie mentions searching for his family.
His wife and son were introduced in the infamous Holiday Special, but have since been made canon through the books.
His search for them mirrors that of the character Muuurgh in Han's Legends origin stories,
who was another tall, hairy friend of Han's that was searching for his enslaved wife.
Beckett says he wants to retire on Glee Anselm and learn to play the valachord.
Glee Anselm was the homeworld of the Nautolan people like Kit Fisto, and appeared to be a tropical planet.
The valachord was first mentioned in the Aftermath books as an instrument played by Snap Wexley.
The pilot Rio mentions eating roasted mynocks on his home world of Ardennia.
Sounds gross to me, but whatever floats your boat man!
Enfys Nest leads a swoop gang called the Cloud Riders.
That name was taken from an old issue of the Star Wars comics,
but the older iteration were actual villains, whereas the Cloud Riders of the movie turn out to be young rebels.
Crimson Dawn is the criminal organization Dryden Vos is a part of.
It's mostly new but has been mentioned in some of the recent Solo-related stories like Last Shot.
Speaking of Dryden, he is known to be a near human.
His facial markings change when he's angry and Leland Chee on Twitter
hinted that he might be the same species as Naare, a character from The Freemaker Adventures.
During Dryden's introduction, you can see a member of the Decraniated serving him.
Those beings were introduced in Rogue One as mental slaves developed by Dr. Evazan.
Dryden's office is a treasure trove of easter eggs.
The crystal skull easily seen in the background of many shots was taken directly from the old Han Solo Adventure, "Han Solo and the Lost Legacy."
Just below it, you can see the fertility idol from the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Another Raiders easter egg can be found in the official guide, revealing that one of Dryden's guards is named Toht Ra.
That's a reference to the Nazi Toht from the movie that is after the head piece of Ra.
There's a large Sith holocron surrounded by what I assume are a number of other Sith relics.
A set of Mandalorian armor is described in the official guide as a near complete set of Old Republic era Mandalorian Rally Master armor,
and I'm just saying, if Lucasfilm is ready to define what Old Republic era Mandalorian armor looks like, that could be a hint towards future content.
The statue of the dancing goddess is an artifact that first appeared in the same old comics as the original Cloud Rider gang.
It was a prize many criminals fought over, and throughout the Legends timeline, it changed hands between Prince Xizor, Jabba the Hutt, and more.
The official guide mentions even more special items like Rakatan wraith boxes, Noghri carvers and Sith obelisks,
but we can't spend the entire video in this room, so let's move on.
When discussing potential targets that could hold unrefined coaxium, Scarif is mentioned.
That's of course the site of the Citadel attacked by the Rebel Alliance in Rogue One.
I don't know if sabacc is really an easter egg or reference at this point,
but hey, it had its origins way back in the Lando Calrissian adventures of the 1980s.
There are many references to those stories made by Lando himself.
He mentions traveling to the Oseon,
investigating the Sharu with L3-37
and visiting the Starcave nebula.
L3's involvement in those stories lead me to believe that she is meant to replace the
Legends character of Vuffi Raa, who served as Lando's copilot in those adventures.
When Han plays sabacc with Lando he claims to have a VCX-100.
That ship model is of Corellian design and is the same model as the Ghost from Star Wars Rebels.
Lando later thanks Beckett for killing Aurra Sing.
That character first briefly appeared in The Phantom Menace, but she played a larger role in The Clone Wars series.
Lando mentions a smuggling job he took on Felucia.
That's the same planet seen in Revenge of the Sith and as the site of Aayla Secura's death during Order 66.
We first meet L3-37 as she is protesting droids fighting for sport.
This is a more tenuous connection, but the old Han Solo Adventure, "Han Solo at Stars' End," involved fighting droids.
L3 tells Lando he wouldn't be able to plot a course to Black Spire station without her,
which is a reference to Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, the theme park opening next year.
On the Falcon, Chewie and Beckett played dejarik together.
Chewie becomes frustrated and smashes the table.
You can see two of the holograms flicker and blink out.
Those two creatures were designed for A New Hope but were never shown.
Now we know why: it's because Chewie broke the table.
The second heist attempt of the film takes place on Kessel.
It was mentioned way back in A New Hope and was first shown on screen in Star Wars Rebels
where we see Wookies used as slave labor by the Empire.
On Kessel, Beckett disguises himself in the same outfit that Lando would wear fourteen years later to infiltrate Jabba's palace to save Han.
Quay Tolsite is a member of the Pyke Syndicate who were established as running the spice trade off of Kessel in The Clone Wars.
Qi'ra takes down the Pyke with a martial art she was taught by Dryden called teräs käsi.
That fighting style first appeared in Shadows of the Empire, but was more famously the name of a Star Wars fighting game for the PlayStation.
R2-D2 and C-3PO have appeared in every Star Wars movie up until Solo,
but Anthony Daniels does get to keep his status as having been in every
film by playing the character Tak: one of the slaves that revolts on Kessel.
The Kessel Run has been Han's claim to fame since A New Hope.
Its appearance in the movie keeps many similarities with how it was presented in Legends including low visibility, rocks and ice and a black hole called the Maw.
We could also potentially argue that the monster lurking in the maelstrom
could be the inspiration for Legends involving a being named Abeloth, kept at bay by the black holes.
Han recalls the best racer he ever knew until he died: a man named Needles.
Writer John Kasdan confirmed on Twitter that that was a reference to the racer named Needles in Back to the Future parts two and three.
The planet Savareen had barely any information about it even in Star Wars Legends.
The only fact listed in the Essential Atlas about it was that it was known for its brandy,
and we see Beckett order exactly that drink at the bar.
Enfys Nest claims her marauders fight against criminal syndicates like Crimson Dawn and the Hutt Cartel.
The Hutt Cartel was prominent in the Clone Wars as one of the major Criminal Syndicates of the galaxy.
I think the only major syndicate that doesn't get a direct shout out in the movie is Black Sun.
Warwick Davis plays a character named Weasel, which is a name he shares with a background character
he played in the Phantom Menace. The official guide confirms the characters are one in the same.
Another familiar face can be seen in the Cloud Riders: either Edrio or Benthic "Two Tubes,"
who can be seen as a member of Saw Gerrera's partisans in Rogue One.
Back on Dryden's yacht, the crime lord offers his guests colo claw fish to eat.
That would be one of the same creatures encountered by Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi,
and Jar Jar Binks in The Phantom Menace as they traveled through Naboo's core.
After Dryden's death, Qi'ra contacts the true leader of Crimson Dawn,
and of course by now, you probably know it's Maul.
The lightsaber he carries is the same one he has in Star Wars Rebels.
He tells Qi'ra to meet him on Dathomir, which is his homeworld and his base of operations in Star Wars Rebels where he keeps the Darksaber.
If you're confused about how he's still alive, check out the video in the cards.
Finally, I wanted to mention Tag and Bink, Legends comic characters created by Kevin Rubio who were teased to be in the film.
According to John Kasdan who played either Tag or Bink, their cameo was cut for time, but we will likely see it in the deleted scenes.
But those are all the easter eggs and references I caught,
and again, thank you to Brian Young for helping me out with this list.
He caught some deep cuts that I missed.
I linked to his Twitter and his podcast in the description, so please go check him out.
And if we missed anything, make sure to put them in the comments below.
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As always, thanks for watching and may the Force be with you.