Easter Eggs You May Have Missed In Star Wars: The Last Jedi

While trying to convince Luke that the Resistance needs him, R2-D2 shows Luke the hologram that kickstarted the whole Star Wars franchise: Leia begging Obi-Wan Kenobi to bring R2-D2 to Alderaan.

In the film's final standoff, Luke faces Kylo Ren - and some well-armed AT-M6 walkers - alone on the mining planet Crait. At the end of the scene, we find out Luke has actually been projecting himself from Ahch-To, his island retreat. The strain of projecting himself so far and for so long has worn him down. Weary and ready to let the Force take him to whatever Jedi afterlife awaits, he looks out across the sea surrounding his island and, for a moment, the setting sun becomes the twin suns of his home planet, Tatooine. 

The Tatooine theme from A New Hope plays and the suns are the last things Luke sees before disappearing.

In The Last Jedi, both Luke and Leia seem to have a connection to a pair of gold dice Luke finds hanging in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon. Those dice first appear in A New Hope; they're essentially just set dressing, as they're never directly mentioned or addressed.

After A New Hope, the dice disappear. They don't appear in another Star Wars film until The Force Awakens. According to Vanity Fair, "[Lucasfilm Story Group creative executive Pablo] Hidalgo says it’s possible the production team simply forgot about them between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back."

In The Last Jedi, it's implied that the dice were meaningful to Han Solo, emblematic of his career as a smuggler and a gambler.

When Luke finally shows up to help the rebels in the final act of The Last Jedi, it's the first time he's seen Leia since her son, Ben, turned to the dark side and became Kylo Ren. Luke feels responsible for Ben turning to the Sith; at the time, Luke was training Ben to become a Jedi, but Luke couldn't overcome the darkness inside his trainee. There's a pause when Luke sees Leia after so many years.

"I'm sorry," Luke says.

"I know," Leia replies.

It's a nice callback to Leia's famous interaction with Han Solo in The Empire Strikes Back; as Han is being carried away by stormtroopers, Leia calls out, "I love you." Han replies, "I know." 

In Return of the Jedi, an Imperial officer calls Han Solo "rebel scum." 

"Scum?" Solo spits back.

It's one of the more recognizable scenes in any Star Wars movie and it gets two shout-outs in The Last Jedi. First, General Hux calls Poe "rebel scum" as Poe leads a bombing run on a First Order Dreadnought. Later, Captain Phasma calls Finn "scum" just as he's about to finish her off for good. 

"Rebel scum," Finn replies, smirking.

The Last Jedi isn't as direct an homage to The Empire Strikes Back as The Force Awakens is to A New Hope. Still, in The Last Jedi, director Rian Johnson did give a big nod to the Battle of Hoth. Johnson stages the final battle in The Last Jedi on Crait, an old mining planet covered in a layer of white salt, which recalls the snow that covers Hoth. The Resistance is holed up in an old Rebel base as a fleet of AT-ATs bear down on them, which is exactly what happened in Empire, too.