After 26 years, a secret Star Wars reference to George Lucas has been uncovered: "We got a new Phantom Menace Easter Egg before GTA 6"

The Phantom Menace is the Star Wars movie that just keeps giving. Over 25 years after the blockbuster brought a galaxy far, far away back into cinemas, yet another subtle Easter Egg has been found.

This one's a particularly small tribute to George Lucas. In the scene on Naboo where Queen Amidala and her guards are outgunned by droids, there's a wide shot with an archway in the background. Focusing on the arch’s tip will reveal the Star Wars creator’s face, carved into the space marble.

You really need to zoom in and squint to see it, but it’s there, waiting for someone to discover it. In fact, it wasn’t spotted offhand either, as Caroleen ‘Jett’ Green, a former painter for Industrial Light and Magic, revealed the metatextual reference to Clayton Sandell in his newsletter.

She put the little nod to Lucas in for fun, and recalls needing his approval when she pointed it out. "George is really quiet. He looks at it, and he goes, 'Oh, naughty, naughty.' I said, 'Yeah, but it's you! It's your face.' And then there's silence again," she remembers. "And I'm just sitting there with everybody. And for some reason, I can't describe the feeling, but… I knew that I wasn't going to get in trouble."

As you can tell, Lucas allowed it to stay. He's made a few little cameos over the years, playing an alien in Revenge of the Sith and shows up in the background of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Naturally, news of this discovery has led to some fans claiming they already knew about it. Regardless, it's no doubt completely new to many, leading to one X/Twitter user joking about learning something new in The Phantom Menace before playing Grand Theft Auto 6.

Not generally in filmmaking any more, Green still lends her paintbrushes to the battle of Jedi and Sith from time to time, the most recent being a painting for Skeleton Crew on Disney Plus. Keep an eye out for her name in the credits of all the new Star Wars movies and TV shows in the works.