Decoded Messages! Hidden Cameos! Six 'Star Wars' Secrets Revealed on 'Rogue One' Home Edition

Marcus Errico
·Editor-in-Chief, Yahoo Entertainment
Star Wars Rogue One stormtrooper doll
Death trooper picks up Jyn’s homemade toy stormtrooper, named Stormie. (Photo: Lucasfilm)

Last Friday marked the digital release of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and after spending the weekend re-watching the movie and poring over the bonus materials, we’ve spotted several hidden details that we somehow missed in our exhaustive catalog of Easter eggs from the film’s theatrical release.

Granted, many of the tidbits were blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moments that can only be appreciated via Zapruder-esque breakdowns of Rogue One. Even then, it wasn’t until we watched a featurette on the plentiful Star Wars references that we caught a few of these. Without futher ado, here are a half-dozen things we learned from the new digital release (the DVD and Blu-ray versions will be out next Tuesday, April 4).

The Force is with Jyn, literally.
Engraved on the kyber-crystal necklace given to Jyn by her mother is the word “Force” written in the Star Wars language of Aurebesh.

Rogue One Jyn necklace the force
The inscription on Jyn’s kyber-crystal necklace reads ‘Force’ in the Star Wars language of Aurebesh. (Photo: Lucasfilm)

Chirrut Îmwe owes his blindness to Donnie Yen.
The martial arts master says that his character “wasn’t particularly written as a blind warrior — he was a ‘warrior-monk’ but I suggested to [director] Gareth [Edwards], ‘Can you make him a blind swordsman?'”

Star Wars Rogue One Chirrut Imwe donnie yen
Donnie Yen as Chirrut in Rogue One. (Photo: Lucasfilm)

Director Gareth Edwards makes like Hitchcock.
The Rogue One filmmaker and admitted Star Wars nerd gets his own low-key hero moment, making a cameo appearance as the rebel who manages to escape Darth Vader and launch Princess Leia’s ship, the Tantive IV, with the purloined Death Star plans aboard.

Rogue One Star Wars Gareth Edwards cameo
The director keeps hope alive in Rogue One‘s climactic scene. (Photo: Lucasfilm)

Look closely to see The Last Jedi director wreaking havoc.
Rian Johnson (sans face shield) and his Episode VIII producer Ram Bergman also have minuscule roles, as technicians who help fire the Death Star’s superlaser.

Rogue One Star Wars Rian Johnson
Rian Johnson (right) and his Last Jedi producer Ram Bergman power the planet-destroying weapon. (Photo: Lucasfilm)

A Star Wars below-the-line legend also gets screen time… sort of.
Dennis Muren, the six-time Oscar-winning visual FX whiz whose groundbreaking work was featured in nearly every Star Wars film as well as E.T., T2, and Jurassic World, doesn’t have a traditional cameo; however, it’s revealed that this alien was named “Mennis Duren” to honor the ILM icon.

This alien is called Mennis Duren after FX maestro Dennis Muren. (Photo: Lucasfilm)
This alien is called Mennis Duren after FX maestro Dennis Muren. (Photo: Lucasfilm)

Jyn’s quite the crafty kid.
We know Jyn had a handmade stormtrooper doll (named “Stormie,” per the Rogue One Visual Guide) that gets picked up by the invading death troopers (see the image at the top of the story), but sharp-eyed, slo-mo-assisted viewers will realize she had an entire menagerie of Star Wars exotica to keep her company during her family’s exile on the barren world of Lah’mu. If you look closely in the film’s opening moments, you can pick out a tooka (“Koodie”), tauntaun (“Tinta”), and IG-88-style assassin droid (“Mr. Iggy”), among others.

Star Wars Rogue One tooka
Jyn grabs her feline tooka toy as she prepares to evacuate. (Photo: Lucasfilm)
Star Wars Rogue One Tauntaun
Jyn calls this tauntaun doll tinta. (Photo: Lucasfilm)
Mr. Iggy the assassin droid rests in Jyn’s window sill.<br>(Photo: Lucasfilm)
Mr. Iggy the assassin droid rests in Jyn’s window sill.
(Photo: Lucasfilm)

And yes, you can find instructions online to make your own versions — or if you’re overwhelmed by the thought of a hot-glue gun, you can go straight to Etsy.

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