Warning: This article contains spoilers for Andor episode 4.
The rest of Star Wars might as well throw in the towel now, as the latest episode of Andor has just supplied us with the greatest Easter egg any entry in the saga is ever likely to achieve.
In episode 4, “Aldhani,” we get to learn a little more about Stellan Skarsgard’s Luthen Rael and his ties to the wider Rebellion movement. Although he’s really a dedicated member of the alliance against the Empire, Rael has a cover identity as the foppish proprietor of a gallery selling antiquated artifacts on Coruscant. Once he’s returned from freeing Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) from Ferrix, Mon Mothma (Geneveive O’Reilly) comes to his store, apparently to purchase a gift for her husband, but really to discuss the latest developments within the Rebellion.
But if you can pull your attention away from the drama of this scene, you’ll notice a mind-blowing item on display in Rael’s backrooms. At around the 30:30 timestamp of the episode, what very much looks like the whip of Indiana Jones encased in carbonite can be glimpsed. As Twitter account @clonehumor pointed out, there’s a delicious irony to Indy’s whip turning up here.
OK, so there’s a lot to unpack here. Obviously, having the whip in carbonite is a double reference, tying Harrison Ford’s two most famous characters together by harking back to Han Solo’s fate in The Empire Strikes Back. Unfortunately, any attempt to reconcile the two franchises into one canon will likely induce a major headache as, lest we forget, Star Wars actually takes place “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away” so it makes no sense that Indy’s whip is in Rael’s gallery. But, hey, we’re not complaining.
Andor continues Wednesdays on Disney Plus. Indiana Jones 5, meanwhile, is coming to theaters on June 30, 2023.