Director Rian Johnson has been a somewhat controversial figure among the Star Wars fan community: he helmed the 2017 feature Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which– whether you love it or… don’t love it (personally, I’m a fan)– has certainly proven to be one of the most divisive entries in the franchise over the past five years.
But since the release of The Last Jedi, Johnson has gone on to create the Knives Out series of films, which sees master detective Benoit Blanc (portrayed by Daniel Craig of 007 fame) investigating mind-bending murder mysteries. And in the second installment Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, which was released yesterday on Netflix, the director managed to sneak in a reference to the Star Wars galaxy.
In Glass Onion, the character of Duke Cody (played by actor and retired professional wrestler Dave Bautista from Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy movies) is established as a former geek who became a men’s rights activist on social media, who also happens to be covered in tattoos. At one point in the film, Johnson gives us a close-up of Duke’s fist and a look at the tats on his fingers, one of which is the Superman logo. But above that, big as day on the forefinger, is the insignia for the Sith Empire, which was established in the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic video game series and its MMORPG spinoff Star Wars: The Old Republic.
In past interviews, Rian Johnson has mentioned that he played Knights of the Old Republic when it first came out and “loved it,” so it makes sense that he would hide a reference to that game series in plain sight, and it’s also nice to have him continue to pay tribute to the Star Wars galaxy, which he still insists he would like to return to as a filmmaker some day.
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is now available to stream exclusively via Netflix, and Star Wars: The Last Jedi is available to stream on Disney+.