Although many of you have already seen STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI, perhaps several times, beware of MAJOR SPOILERS below. Members of the Lucasfilm Story Group, including Pablo Hidalgo, Rayne Roberts, Leland Chee, and Matt Martin, recently sat down with The Star Wars Show host Andi Gutierrez for a video which dives into the goldmine of secrets, cameos, and hidden references found in STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI.
The pair of dice hanging in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon play a part in STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI, when Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) presents them to Leia (Carrie Fisher) upon arriving on Crait. To people who may not have been aware of their existence, their inclusion may have come as a surprise, but originally, they were also meant to be featured in STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS and more properly set up their appearance in THE LAST JEDI; Pablo Hidalgo explains:
J.J. [Abrams] shot a scene where Han hangs them up, and Rian saw that and that's why he made such a meal out of the dice in THE LAST JEDI, but then J.J. cut the dice appearance in THE FORCE AWAKENS, so as a result, what Rian ends up referencing is not so much THE FORCE AWAKENS, but A NEW HOPE.
Another little Luke Skywalker tidbit also calls back to A NEW HOPE, when R2-D2 projects the hologram of Leia in order to convince the Jedi to leave the island and join the battle. That footage wasn't recreated digitally, instead, they went back to the original archival footage from A NEW HOPE and found the dailies of that sequence, but they did add a little more distortion to the image. Speaking of Luke Skywalker, the group also discussed the climatic battle between Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) and the Jedi Master. At the close of the battle, it was revealed that Luke Skywalker wasn't physically there and was instead projecting his image via the Force, but there were several elements which clued audiences in before the big reveal. In addition to not making an imprint on the ground, looking younger, and having an unbroken lightsaber, Luke doesn't make any sound when he steps on the crunchy salt. Also, the flakes of salt which are blowing around never land on Luke or his lightsaber, but they do interact with Kylo Ren and his lightsaber. Hidalgo also confirmed that the scene in The First Order laundry room, when an iron descends towards the camera, is a reference to HARDWARE WARS, one of the first STAR WARS fan films.
STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI is now playing in theaters.