The following contains spoilers for Solo: A Star Wars Story.
While we expect to find a lot of easter eggs and references in franchises like the Marvel Cinematic Universe or the next Pixar movie, it's not something we associate with Star Wars, and yet, Solo: A Star Wars Story was full of them, some quite obscure. If you knew what you were looking for you may have noticed them, but like any good easter egg, these probably flew right be anybody for whom they meant nothing.
Of course, for those that did catch them, these were some great references to elements of Star Wars fans had assumed had been long forgotten. However, it seems that screenwriters Jonathan and Lawrence Kasdan, along with the rest of the filmmakers, hadn't forgotten these parts of the galaxy far, far away after all. Here are a few of the more deep-dives into the Star Wars universe you may have missed.
The Black Spires
One of the most obscure references in Solo was hard to catch not because it dealt with something old and forgotten, but because it dealt with something so new that most people aren't familiar with it yet. After Han and Qi'ra successfully enlist the help of Lando Calrissian, and the crew are headed off to Lando's ship, we continue to get to know Lando's co-pilot, the droid L3-37. At one point, as part of showing off her navigational knowledge, and Lando's lack of the same, L3 says that Lando couldn't even find The Black Spires without her.
The Black Spires exist on the planet Batuu, a place nobody has really seen in the Star Wars universe yet because it's the world that will be the home of Star Wars Galaxy's Edge, the new land set to open at Disneyland and Walt Disney World in 2019. The Black Spires themselves have been referenced as part of the promotion of the land done via a set of collectible cards, and they're visible in the image above which was released along with the most recent announcement regarding when the new lands will open.. They're geographic landmarks on the planet that lend their name to other locations, like Black Spire Station, but beyond that, we'll have to wait and see what else, if anything, they may mean.
Teras Kasi
When Han Solo and his crew attempt to infiltrate Kessel, Qi'ra and L3-37 find themselves on the other side of a closed door from Beckett. When he starts blasting, Qi'ra has to take down the mine director herself. We don't really see what happens, having only a small viewport between the camera and the action, but L3 is utterly amazed by Qi'ra's takedown. She informs the droid that she was a fighting style called Teras Kasi, which she had been taught by Dryden Vos.
Teras Kasi is the name of a martial art within the Star Wars universe. While first being mentioned in the Legends novel Shadows of the Empire, the fighting style reached its highest level of infamy in Star Wars: Masters of Teras Kasi, a 3D fighting game from 1997 for the original PlayStation that saw you put your favorite Star Wars characters up against each other in one-on-one battles of hand to hand combat, Street Fighter style. The problem was that 3D fighting games were really slow and clunky at the time, making Teras Kasi a less than impressive video game. There have been some great games based on Star Wars over the years, this was not one of them. Still, it's terribleness made it certainly memorable enough for some to get this reference.
Lando's Adventures
Novels were the way that the Star Wars universe continued on after the original trilogy was complete, and three novels from the early 80s followed the adventures of Lando Calrissian in the years when he was still the pilot of the Millennium Falcon. All three books get referenced over the course of Solo: A Star Wars Story. When we first meet Lando at the Babacc table he is talking about once winning a moon in the Oseon system, a reference to Lando Calrissian and the Flamewind of Oseon. Later, when recording his memoirs, he begins to talk about the events of Lando Calrissian and the Mindharp of Sharu. Finally, when we're back at the Sabacc table at the end of the film, Lando mentions the Starcave nebula, a reference to _Lando Calrissian and the Starcave of Thonboka. _
The Crystal Skull, Not That One
There's a prominent object on display in Dryden Vos' office at the end of the movie that appears to be a large crystal skull. While one might think this is a reference to an Indiana Jones movie, the skull is the wrong shape for that. it's actually a reference to another 1980s Star Wars book, Han Solo And The Lost Legacy. The crystal skull on the cover of the book above is the same one that's in the office. It doesn't survive the film, unfortunately, as it gets blasted during the battle.
Weazel
The cameo appearance by Warwick Davis was something that most serious Star Wars fans probably caught. He's the smallest member of Enfy Nest's crew that trails Solo and Beckett throughout the film. We don't recognize that it's Davis until the end of the movie, but, while the cameo itself isn't that obscure, what is, is the fact that the character Davis is playing here is actually a callback to an earlier Warwick Davis cameo.
He's apparently actually playing Weazel, a character spied briefly as a spectator during the Pod Race sequence in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. Weazel is already an obscure character, seeing his return is actually even more obscure.
