The galaxy's scruffiest-looking nerf herder finally got a film all to himself with Solo:
A Star Wars Story, and as far as all-out, action-filled heist movies go, it's out of
this world.
Taking place about a decade before Han would meet Luke and his crew in a dingy little cantina
on Tatooine, Solo gives us a pretty clear backstory about the troubled, optimistic,
Han.
Despite the hero's general detachment and disenchantment from all things Jedi, it's
hard to escape common threads dangling throughout the Star Wars universe.
From name-checked bounty hunters to familiar face masks, here are a few details you may
have missed in Solo.
Stay golden
You'd be blind to not notice Han's gold dice in Solo, but they have a very confusing history,
and even canonical Star Wars publications can't seem to agree on what their deal is.
From their first on-screen appearance during A New Hope, the dice have taken on a life
of their own.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens: A Visual Dictionary includes a picture of the dice: they have
standard pips, and they were allegedly used in a game of sabacc in which Han won the Falcon
from with Lando Calrissian.
When they make their re-appearance in The Last Jedi, their symbols have changed to alien
characters.
In Solo, Han hands the dice to Qi'ra before they're separated on Corellia.
The dice are returned to him just before the crew of the Falcon enter the spice mines of
Kessel, but they definitely aren't used during Han's sabacc showdown with a cheating Calrissian.
They're not even used during Han and Lando's rematch in which Han actually scores the iconic
ship.
So, like so much of Star Wars lore, we're going to have to dig just a little deeper
and figure out the real story behind those Corellian chance cubes.
Questions about Kessel
Finally, we get to see what makes the Kessel Run so dangerous, and why it's such a big
deal that Han Solo made it in less than 12 parsecs, setting to rest the ongoing debate
about a parsec being a unit of distance, not time.
Because of the fancy flying necessary to make it through the extremely dangerous area of
space, finding a viable shortcut, and surviving it, is a truly big deal.
Most viewers remember Kessel because of Han's boasting; the average run takes 20 parsecs,
but the Falcon made it in 12 - that is, if you round down.
By the time A New Hope rolls around, Han's story grows, and that number dips to under
12.
During The Force Awakens, Rey believes that number to be 14 parsecs, which Han quickly
corrects.
But that's not even the first time Kessel is mentioned in Star Wars.
The first mention occurs in the first five minutes of A New Hope
"What are we going to do?
We'll be sent to the spice mines of Kessel!"
In Solo, we see that Kessel totally sucks.
Even though L3-37 staged a pretty successful robot rebellion in the mines, Star Wars Rebels
: The Visual Guide confirms that the mines have regular rebellions, all of which seem
to be more or less unsuccessful.
Even a decade later, Kessel still sucks.
Big bounty
Of all of the lives lost in Solo, the definitive end to a fan favorite bounty hunter was perhaps
the most surprising, and it didn't even happen on-screen.
Aurra Sing, who made a brief appearance in The Phantom Menace, went on to appear in both
canonical Star Wars comics and multiple episodes of The Clone Wars, where she hung out with
Boba Fett and Cad Bane, and even faced down Jedi warriors Ahsoka Tano and Plo Koon.
And then, sometime later, she was "pushed" by Tobias Beckett, and met her unceremonious
end.
That's it.
For a once-respected bounty hunter, what a way to go.
Also mentioned in passing is Bossk, the lizard-like bounty hunter who first appears in The Empire
Strikes Back.
Diving even deeper into Star Wars lore, the "Zan Sisters" are also mentioned at the same
time as Bossk.
While not an obvious riff on Star Wars Legends continuity, Zan and Zu Pike were a pair of
mercenary sisters who first appeared in Shadows of the Empire.
If there's any doubt about their connection, consider Teras Kasi, the martial art mentioned
by Qi'ra, which is employed by her, Vos, and Darth Maul, among others.
It's first mentioned in Shadows, is used by the Pike sisters, shows up in the title of
a terrible video game, and is never mentioned in canon again until now.
Legends
Even though Disney threw out pretty much every Star Wars comic and book that was written
before they acquired Lucasfilm, much of the new "canon" continuity of Star Wars is more
or less a remix of the old stuff.
At one point in Han's original, wiped-out history, he joined the Empire, didn't fit
in, and eventually saved Chewbacca from the Empire's abuse.
Sound familiar?
Chewie grunt.
"That's yes."
"The Maw" also exists in old Star Wars lore, but it's a cluster of black holes inside the
Kessel Run.
The idea is essentially the same in Solo… plus a horrifying space jellyfish for good
measure.
The parallels to things viewers can find in the discarded history of Star Wars are numerous,
but you'll still never, ever see Mara Jade on the big screen.
Sorry, guys.
Crimson Dawn
Dryden Vos, the leader of the crime syndicate Crimson Dawn, is something of a collector.
Keen viewers probably noticed a suit of Mandalorian armor hanging around in the background of
his office, which is of course similar to the suits worn by the Fetts.
But it's another curiosity in his office that probably turned even more heads.
Director Ron Howard announced before the release of Solo that he'd planted an Indiana Jones
Easter egg in the film, carrying on a long tradition of the two franchises trading references.
Treasures from the Sankara Stones to the fertility idol are hidden throughout the room, but the
most obvious treasure is the gigantic crystal skull that Vos has prominently displayed.
Vos' skull is definitely more humanoid than the alien cranium found in Kingdom of the
Crystal Skull, but it's almost definitely a reference to the Indiana Jones film.
Aboard the Falcon
For decades, all we've really known of the Millennium Falcon is that it's a temperamental,
hearty little freighter with a weird shape, but you might not have even recognized the
ship in Solo.
During Han and Lando's first trip, we see that the ship is very clean, and also unusually
teardrop shaped, with a whole lot of additions made by Lando himself to make it more of a
pleasure vehicle than one for just serious business.
These additions include a cape room, a holochess table, and some nice sleeping quarters.
Interestingly, the shape of the old Falcon actually reflects the original designs of
artist Ralph McQuarrie.
Despite all of the damage by the end of Solo, one thing we know for sure remains aboard
the Falcon is Lando's bounty hunter helmet, which we first see in Return of the Jedi when
Lando enters Jabba's palace using the name Tamtel Skreej.
Beckett uses the same helmet to disguise himself on Kessel.
Digging deep
Lando clearly isn't a fan of mining colonies, but by the time The Empire Strikes Back rolls
around, Calrissian is managing Cloud City, a Tibanna gas mining colony over Bespin.
Keep your eyes peeled on the Falcon and you'll spot a silver model of the colony among Lando's
possessions.
Speaking of clouds, it may also come as a surprise that Enfys Nest and her Cloud Riders
actually aren't a completely original creation for Solo.
They're actually inspired by a band of marauders who appeared in 1978's Star Wars #9, but only
in appearance.
The comic Cloud-Riders are led by a guy with the terrible name "Arrogantus," who definitely
isn't into piracy to help the Rebellion.
By then, Marvel's Star Wars comics were already far off the rails: Jabba the Hut was a skinny
yellow walrus on two legs, while Han was hanging out with a hedgehog man named Hedji and a
barely-clothed crime boss lady named Amaiza.
No thanks.
Weazel and company
Solo doesn't have as many secret cameos as other recent Star Wars films, but a few are
worth mentioning.
It would be hard to miss the unusual presence of Clint Howard, brother of director Ron Howard,
and a regular face for fans of science fiction.
You'll spot him as a robot wrangler when we first meet L3-37.
And while you won't find C-3PO, Solo still features the Droid's actor, Anthony Daniels,
as a human named Tak, who teams up with the Wookiees and Chewbacca during the escape from
Kessel.
And of course, we have Warwick Davis, who's been a part of Star Wars since the very beginning,
most notably appearing as Wicket the Ewok.
Of all of his Star Wars characters, only one is unmasked: Weazel, a scuzzy spectator at
the Boonta Eve podrace during The Phantom Menace.
Davis appears again in Solo as a member the Cloud-Riders, and once again he's playing
Weazel.
Going from a racing junkie on a dirt planet to being one of the galaxy's founding freedom
fighters is an arc to parallel anyone else in Star Wars, and it's an arc we'd love to
see.
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