Surprising Indiana Jones, Force Awakens, and Revenge of the Sith Easter Eggs in Star Wars Rebels
In this weekend's episode of Star Wars Rebels, we got a look at the Galactic Civil War 'Through [...]
Grand Admiral Thrawn and the Last Crusade?
Art Director Killian Plunkett, talking to Rebels Recon's Andi Gutierrez, revealed the Indy Easter Egg, along with a few others.
"The Holy Grail is in the Antechamber that leads into Thrawn's office," Plunkett reveals. Yes, that's the Holy Grail, modeled after the prop that still sits in the halls of Lucasfilm and ILM today. As far as a story reason for its presence, well, that's pretty hard to come up with; sometimes things are just for fun.
Don't Lose Your Head Over This One
A more story-integrated Easter Egg, though, is in the Clone Trooper helmet in his office. The helmet has the markings of Clone Commander Gree, the trooper who turned on Yoda when Order 66 was issued, and got a swift decapitation from the dimuntive Jedi for his troubles.
"We made it into Gree's helmet, which is the trooper that Yoda decapitated in Revenge of the Sith, Plunkett explained. "We're not saying 100% that it's Gree's helmet, but I've only ever seen that paint scheme on one helmet."
What Beastie Boys Song is He Named After, Though?
In the background, partially hidden behind the painted wall of Sabine's art that Thrawn has collected, sits a bust of an Abednedo, "the species of Ello Asty in The Force Awakens."
The Abednedo are mostly named after Beastie Boys songs and albums (JJ Abrams is a big fan of the band); even the species name is close to "Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego," a surprisingly biblical song from the rappers.
Notable Abednedo:
Ello Asty = Hello Nasty
Ilco Munica = Ill Communication
Oddy Muva = Body Movin'
Brasmon Kee = Brass Monkey
No idea why Thrawn has this bust in his office, as we don't know anything specifically special about the species, but here's hoping its name was "S'abbot Ahj" or something similar.
McQuarrie Still Inspiring
Finally, we get that "painting of Lothal" on the wall - and that's actual concept art from Ralph McQuarrie, reproduced in the show! Those images, likely originally for Tatooine, became the basis of the look of Lothal in Star Wars Rebels, showing how four decades later, McQuarrie's incredible art is still inspiring the creators behind Star Wars.
"It's the first time we've directly used Ralph's art in the final renders of the show," Plunkett revealed. Obviously not the first instance of his influence, though, since Zeb is actually based on McQuarrie's original look for Chewbacca!
Star Wars Rebels airs Saturdays at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT on Disney XD.
