‘The Force Awakens’ Reveals a Couple of Hidden ‘Star Wars’ Cameos
By now, you probably know all about some of the cameos in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, like Daniel Craig’s secret appearance and the actors behind the voice of BB-8. But there are a couple more hidden cameos you most likely didn’t notice — as it turns out, Luke, Leia, Han and Admiral Ackbar aren’t the only classic characters from the original trilogy who appear in The Force Awakens, but J.J. Abrams made these others a little more difficult to see (or hear).
Per Entertainment Weekly, Abrams snuck in a couple of cameos from Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda, but you might not notice them on first or even second viewing. Spoilers ahead, so turn back now lest ye be ruined:
When Rey visits Maz Kanata’s secret treasure room and encounters Luke’s lightsaber, she experiences a crazy series of dreamlike hallucinations, including glimpses of her past and future events, Kylo Ren, Luke and R2-D2. If you listen closely, you’ll hear the voices of both young and old Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda. And yes, those are really the voices of Ewan McGregor, Alec Guinness and Frank Oz.
Abrams extracted most of the dialogue from old footage, and since Guinness passed away in 2000, the director was able to create the sound of him saying “Rey” from a scene in the old trilogy where he said “afraid.” Although Oz did record some new dialogue, Abrams opted to use older material, but he did incorporate new dialogue from McGregor, who recorded the line “Rey, these are your first steps.” Aww! The director says Oz might return to work on Episode 8 with Rian Johnson, though it’s unclear if Yoda would make a physical appearance or if Rey would merely hear his voice floating around in the Force.
One more bit from Abrams: the director says McGregor “was incredibly sweet and handsome, and all that stuff. Then he rode off on his motorcycle.” Of course he did.