By George & Josh Bate
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld
Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld fills in gaps in the stories of Asajj Ventress and Cad Bane, while offering fans yet another May the 4th treat this year. Situated in an interesting point in the Star Wars timeline, the series features all sorts of easter eggs, hidden details, and references to other Star Wars stories, including the novel Dark Disciple, The Clone Wars, The Bad Batch, The Book of Boba Fett, and Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Here are all the easter eggs, hidden details, and references in Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld….
A Way Forward
The beginning of the episode picks up directly from the end of Dark Disciple. The novel by Christie Golden adapted an arc from The Clone Wars that never got developed as the show was canceled. The novel focuses on Asajj Ventress and Quinlan Vos as the two bond together while they plan to kill Count Dooku.
The visual of Vos carrying Asajj Ventress is taken straight from concept art for the scrapped arc from The Clone Wars. See below.
Quinlan Vos is voiced by Al Rodrigo, who previously voiced the character in The Clone Wars.
The first short explains how Asajj Ventress lives beyond the events of Dark Disciple. The Nightsister Mother Talzin offers two paths: “join your sisters in this realm or return to the land of the living?” The cost for the latter, however, is her “heart’s desire,” meaning Asajj Ventress can live only if she no longer has a connection with the love of her life Quinlan Vos.
Asajj Ventress is once again voiced by Nika Futterman. Futterman first voiced the character in The Clone Wars and reprised the role for The Bad Batch. This means Futterman has played Ventress for nearly 20 years.
Mother Talzin is voiced by Barbara Goodson, who previously voiced the character in The Clone Wars. Goodson also provided the English dub voice of Empress Rita Repulsa in the Power Rangers series.
The planet that Ventress works on features a docking bay that looks like Mos Eisley and includes a variety of known species, including Twi’leks and Ithorians.
A fruit basket on the street contains a meiloorun fruit. This type of fruit first appeared in the episode “Bounty” of The Clone Wars but also appeared in Rebels, Andor, Young Jedi Adventures, and The Mandalorian.
The person who holds a gun to Ventress’ boss Cort is a Rhodian, the same species as Greedo from A New Hope.
Ventress’ boss Cort is voiced by Tudi Roche, who is known for playing Carrie on the sitcom Home Improvement. In the Star Wars universe, she previously voiced Mika Grey in Resistance.
Ventress says she does “not want that life anymore” in response to her boss’ suggestion of them teaming up on a bigger venture. This “life” she is referring to is her life as a bounty hunter after she left Count Dooku’s side.
An Imperial Probe Droid accompanies the Stormtroopers walking around looking for the young Jedi Lyco.
Lyco is voiced by Lane Factor, who is known for playing Cheese in the series Reservation Dogs.
Lyco tries a Jedi mind trick on Ventress’ boss. This notorious Jedi trick was first seen in A New Hope when Ben Kenobi tried to fool a stormtrooper.
The stormtrooper who is tricked by Ventress is voiced by Steve Blum, a veteran Star Wars voice actor known for voicing Zeb in Rebels and The Mandalorian.
Ventress wields a yellow lightsaber, the same saber she wielded in the novel Dark Disciple and in The Bad Batch Season 3.
Lyco mentions “the Path” to Ventress. The Path was first depicted in Obi-Wan Kenobi as a network of people who help get the Jedi to safety. In Obi-Wan Kenobi, Obi-Wan looks upon a wall of names of people who have engaged in The Path and comments saying, “Quinlan was here?” Lyco mentions here that Quinlan Vos was one of the founding members of The Path, which adds additional context to the name drop in Obi-Wan Kenobi.
The person that faces off against Ventress is an Inquisitor we have not seen before. His lightsaber is reminscient of the Grand Inquisitor’s.
The unknown Inquisitor is voiced by Daniel Ross, who is best known for being the third person to have ever officially voiced Donald Duck.
During the duel with the Inquisitor, Ventress picks up Lyco’s blue lightsaber (in addition to her yellow lightsaber). Wielding two lightsabers is something Ventress is comfortable with considering she often wielded two red lightsabers in The Clone Wars while serving under Dooku.
Friends
Lane quotes Yoda by saying, “Anger leads to hate” to Ventress.
The bounty hunters that Ventress and Lyco collaborate with are Latts Razzi and C-21 Highsinger. These two bounty hunters previously appeared in The Clone Wars.
Latts Razzi is voiced by Clare Grant, who previously voiced the character in The Clone Wars. Grant’s husband is Seth Green, an actor with his own history in a galaxy far, far away as he parodied Star Wars in Robot Chicken and voiced Todo 360 in The Clone Wars and The Bad Batch.
C-21 Highsinger is voiced by David Acord, who also has a long-standing history in the Star Wars universe. Acord is a sound editor who works at Skywalker Sound. He served as Apprentice Sound Editor on Attack of the Clones, Assistant Sound Editor on Revenge of the Sith, and Supervising Sound Editor and Sound Designer for The Force Awakens and The Rise of Skywalker. In television, Acord was Supervising Sound Editor and Sound Designer for Andor and The Mandalorian Seasons 1-2. Acord has also voiced many Star Wars characters, including the Grogu in The Mandalorian, Rotta the Hutt in The Clone Wars, and Two Tubes in Rogue One and Andor.
Latts is looking for an Imperial Shield Relay Unit. To our knowledge, this term hasn’t been used before in Star Wars, although it does remind us of the Imperial Starpath Unit from Andor.
The sound of the wires cutting during the mission is taken directly from Obi-Wan and Anakin’s duel on Mustafar in Revenge of the Sith.
One Warrior to Another
The home that Ventress and Lyco visit has Battle Droids as the Star Wars equivalent of scarecrows outside.
The war medals on the wall of the home harbor the Separatist hex icon.
The Separatist veteran’s knowledge of Ventress is a callback to Ventress’ time alongside Dooku fighting in the Clone Wars.
The Separatist veteran, credited as ‘Grandfather,’ is voiced by Tony Amendola, who previously played Eno Cordova in Jedi: Fallen Order and Jedi: Survivor.
The Separatist veteran says, “Turns out our side was right.” This sentiment makes sense for a person in the galaxy who is unaware that Palpatine manipulated both the Republic and the Separatists into a war with one another. His ‘side’ was defeated by the Republic, which evolved in the tyrannical Empire. Ventress refutes saying, “No. Both sides got it wrong,” signaling that she was well aware of Palpatine’s manipulation of both sides.
Ventress and Lyco are after water from Cipher Canyon. ‘Cipher Nine’ was the codename of the elite Intelligence Operative of the Sith Empire in the video game Star Wars: The Old Republic.
The raiders of Cipher Canyon are reminiscent of raiders from the Mad Max franchise in the weapons they wield and the motorcycle-type vehicles they ride.
Lyco resolving the conflict with the raiders isn’t the first time a Star Wars hero has came up against an initially antagonistic native species. Of course, in Return of the Jedi, the Ewoks are initially hostile toward the Rebels, before the Ewoks and the Rebels speak (rather than fight) and realize they’re on the same side.
Ventress says, “May the Force be with you” to the departing Lyco. Is this the first time Ventress has used the iconic Star Wars phrase? We think so.
Lyco deciding to stay with Ventress, rather than go with The Path, is similar to Grogu reuniting with Din Djarin rather than staying with Luke Skywalker.
The final shot of the episode shows Lyco and Ventress ride off into the sunset. The visuals are very much like the last shot of the Obi-Wan Kenobi series.
The Good Life
Cad Bane’s planet is populated by a number of species but especially Duros. Duros is the species Cad Bane belongs to and is one of the first alien species to appear in Star Wars, making their debut in A New Hope. Duros resemble the classic, archetypal aliens depicted in 1950s and 1960s U.S. media.
The episode following young and orphaned Cad and Niro is similar to the iconic novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens, which also focuses on orphaned street children trying to survive in a big city.
Young Cad Bane is voiced by AJ Locascio, who is known for voicing Gambit in X-Men 97 and Prince Lotor in Voltron: Legendary Defender. In Star Wars, he previously voiced Han Solo in The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special and Forces of Destiny.
Young Niro, meanwhile, is voiced by Eric Lopez, who succeeded Hank Azaria as Apu in The Simpsons.
Niro calls Cad Bane by the name Colby. This is the first time Bane has been referred to by this name.
Niro tells Cad he wishes they “had some Crunchies.” Crunchies are the pebble-like cereal that Syril eats in Andor.
The droid that Cad and Nero rob is an RA-7 protocol droid.
Cad Bane’s eventual mentor Lazlo wears Bane’s iconic hat that he wears in The Clone Wars and other stories. The inspiration Cad draws from Lazlo, including wearing his fedora, reminds us of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in which young Indy is inspired by the fedora-wearing man and the beginning and also begins to wear a similar hat.
Lazlo is voiced by Philip Anthony-Rodriguez, who previously voiced Fifth Brother in Star Wars Rebels.
Lazlo telling Cad Bane, “Welcome to the family” at the end of the episode is similar to what characters in The Godfather movies say when they welcome people into the Corleone gangster family.
A Good Turn
The episode structure of dividing each short by several years reminds us of the year that divides each block of episodes of Andor Season 2.
This episode sees Cad Bane wear his iconic fedora for the first time.
This marks the first time Colby is referred to as Cad Bane, confirming that he received this new name once joining Lazlo’s crew.
The trope of two former friends finding themselves on opposite sides of the law has been depicted in a number of movies and shows, including We Own the Night, My Friends, and Line of Duty.
Adult Niro is voiced by Artt Butler, known for voicing Admiral Ackbar in The Clone Wars.
One of the police officers in the station is looking at a screen with a Neimodian on it. This species first appeared in The Phantom Menace.
Cad Bane makes his conic pose, standing with his head down, hat tilted, toothpick in his mouth, and foot up against a wall, in this episode.
Cad has gone against a Marshal before in Star Wars, as he had a showdown with Marshal Cobb Vanth in The Book of Boba Fett.
The standoff between Cad Bane and the police officer is taken straight out of a classic Western. Westerns have served as a primary influence on Star Wars dating all the way back to 1977.
One Good Deed
Cad Bane and Niro’s home planet has gotten a lot safer since the death of Lazlo and the imprisonment of Cad Bane. People are out walking, storm fronts aren’t destroyed, and grass is growing.
One of Bane’s crew is a Trandoshan, the same species as Bossk.
The plot of the episode is very similar to the 1952 Western classic High Noon. That film follows a marshal as he learns that a criminal he imprisoned has been set free and is returning to seek revenge.
A number of hints at the beginning of the episode imply that Niro went on to marry Arin and that Isaac is actually Cad Bane’s child.
The mayor of the town is voiced by Gwendoline Yeo, known for voicing Nala Se in The Clone Wars and The Bad Batch.
Cad Bane tells Niro, “You took everything from me.” This is what Starkiller says to Darth Vader in The Force Unleashed.