The events of Star Wars supposedly take place in a galaxy far, far away, but one outer space aficionado believes they’ve located Jabba the Hutt on a planet that neighbors Earth. After scouring through images taken by NASA‘s Curiosity rover, UFO Sightings Daily pointed out how one rock formation resembled the notorious gangster that debuted in Return of the Jedi.
Gigapan user Neville Thompson stitched together a number of raw images from NASA’s rover to create a massive panorama for users to explore. Among the various unique formations, what appeared to be the top half of the gangster’s head seemed to appear.
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As CNET points out, this is merely an example of pareidolia, which refers to the human brain taking abstract images and perceiving them as something familiar. Given that there’s never been a manned mission to Mars and we’ve seen countless bizarre shapes on the rocky planet, Jabba’s head is only one of many examples of peculiar images that have taken form out of seemingly random images.
Lucasfilm may have a large budget for their marketing campaigns, but we doubt they’ve gone to these lengths to spread awareness of their brand. Some reports, however, claim this won’t be the last we hear from Jabba, with rumored sources claiming the gangster could appear in Solo: A Star Wars Story.
“It’s a huge secret, but Jabba is returning to the Star Wars universe. Fans will learn why Han ended up owing him so much money,” a source confirmed to The Sun. “Yoda was brought back for The Last Jedi and now Disney wants to bring back another legacy character.”
The comparison of Yoda’s appearance in The Last Jedi would hint that Jabba doesn’t play a major role in the film, but we’d at least get one scene further establishing why Han owed the gangster so much money. Another rumored cameo in the film is Boba Fett, but with the bounty hunter not having much connection to Han in Star Wars canon, an appearance from Jabba would be much more logical.
Ben Morris, who has worked on the visual effects for both The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, shared with The Sun, “Jabba the Hutt would be a good guess. If I say any more I will get into trouble.”
Whether this is confirmation of Jabba’s appearance or not is unclear, but Morris would speak as more of an authority on the matter than most.
Fans will know for themselves if Jabba appears in Solo: A Star Wars Story when the film hits theaters on May 25th.
Do you think the shapes look like Jabba or more like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle? Let us know in the comments below!
[H/T CNET]
