The Skywalker saga may be done and dusted, but it seems that the films still have secrets to spill. In fact, one little-noticed detail was revealed today in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith that put a smile on fans’ faces.
It comes during the scene in which General Grievous faces off against Obi-Wan. At the start of the fight comes the memorable moment where Grievous unsheathes his four lightsabers. And as he does so, two battle droids out of focus at the rear of the shot have a great little reaction.
One of them gives the other a nudge, telling him to check out the crazy fight that’s about to go down in front of them. The ‘roger roger’ Battle Droids in the prequels were responsible for some pretty amusing slapstick gags along the way, so this is a nice moment that humanizes them a little bit. But of course, the audience’s eye will naturally be on the gigantic evil cyborg that’s so damn near that everyone missed this for twenty years.
Dare I add that this was me? 😊 Best. Internship. Ever. https://t.co/b7xQjQLI36
— Jean-Denis Haas (@jeandenishaas) April 1, 2020
After it was pointed out on the ‘Hidden Easter Eggs’ Twitter account (@FilmEasterEggs), the animator responsible stepped forward to claim credit. Jean-Denis Hass apparently worked on the film as an intern at ILM, where he got to include the moment. He sounds like he had a great time working on the movie, too, saying that ILM was the “Best. Internship. Ever.”
Rob Coleman, animation director for Revenge of the Sith, also chimed in, saying:
“We hid many Easter Eggs in the background of the Star Wars prequels. Thanks for noticing this one. I know you will have fun finding many more.”
While the Battle Droids are limited to the Prequel Trilogy, one did make a very subtle cameo in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. If you keep an eye out in Babu Frik’s droid workshop, you’ll spot a deactivated one in the background. And after the bashing these models took in the prequels, I’m surprised one managed to survive this long relatively intact.