Solo: A Star Wars Story - 10 Best Callbacks To The Original Saga Explained
Old habits die hard.
Solo: A Star Wars Story, the second in Lucasfilm's series of Star Wars anthology films, has finally hit cinemas worldwide and going to see it makes for an incredibly fun time.
Not only is Solo an incredibly entertaining and fast-paced heist film that fleshes out the character of everyone's favorite space smuggler, but much like how Rogue One retroactively gave all-new meaning to certain aspects from Episode IV, Solo accomplishes something very similar.
However, whereas Rogue One was mostly hyper-focused on leading into A New Hope, Solo was a bit more widespread with the Star Wars lore it either added or expanded upon, taking major cues from the entire original six-film saga (i.e. the original and prequel trilogies).
After seeing Solo, you're likely to see certain things in a whole new light when going back to watch the original films, whether it's through backstories given to things that once seemed innocuous, some tongue-in-cheek retroactive foreshadowing, or some genuine surprises.
After all, Han Solo and Chewbacca were thirty and two-hundred years old, respectively, when they first met Luke Skywalker and Ben Kenobi in the Mos Eisley Cantina. So, it only stands to reason that they have a lot of stories to tell.
Contains major spoilers for Solo: A Star Wars Story.
10. The Iconic Blaster
Since day one of the Star Wars saga, Han Solo has wielded a DL-44 heavy blaster pistol. In Solo's first act, we see exactly how the weapon came into his possession.
As it turns out, Han's DL-44 was a gift from Tobias Beckett, who tossed it to Han while they and the rest of their crew were sat around campfire the night before they planned to carry out their heist on an Imperial train.
At first, this seems like a fairly unimportant origin story for the iconic weapon. However, by the end of the film, it becomes clear that the blaster's origin really speaks volumes about Han's beginnings as an outlaw, which retroactively carries over into the original films.
The same gun that Han used to shoot Greedo in the cantina, tried to kill Darth Vader with in Cloud City, and was by his side during the Battle of Endor was once used to kill the man who gave it to Han in the first place and eventually betrayed him.
In turn, the DL-44 can now be seen as serving as something of a reminder to Han that you should "expect everyone will betray you."