'Rogue One': All the Ties to 'Star Wars: A New Hope'

— -- "Rogue One" raked in an impressive $155 million at the box office during its opening weekend.

Fans were delighted to be taken back to the time period immediately preceding "A New Hope" during this stand-alone film. The movie focuses on the rebels' mission to steal the Death Star plans, so that Luke Skywalker and others can destroy it in the 1977 classic, the first of the "Star Wars" saga.

With the movie being a throwback of sorts for "Star Wars," there were bound to be hidden eggs and ties to the original film.

Major spoilers ahead, so if you haven't seen "Rogue One," click away!

Here are the major ones:

First, the obvious tie is Grand Moff Tarkin. It was reported he was coming back, so this is no big surprise. But how did he come back, given that Peter Cushing, the actor who immortalized the icy military leader, has since passed on?

Well, he is revived and evil as ever with the cinema magic of CGI. Some fans, who have seen the movie, have voiced their concerns on social media that it was a bit distracting, but still are happy to see the old "Star Wars" villain who died at the end of "A New Hope."

You sure you want to dive deeper? Last spoiler alert!

The next tie that you might have already guessed and read about, plus it's in the trailers, is Darth Vader. He's back and in a big way. We won't give away too much, but you see Vader in "Rogue One" like you've never seen him before. You also get some of his old tricks.

Even the little details are the same for Vader as they were in "A New Hope." This includes the way his armor sits on his chest. Director Gareth Edwards stated in previous interviews that he purposely wanted Vader to look the same, despite technological advances in the past four decades. They even added finger prints by hand to his mask. Vader's home in "Rogue One" is also a tie to "Revenge of the Sith," in which Anakin transforms into the villain.

A lot of fans were excited to see smaller ties like blue milk, mouse droids and more. Other Easter eggs meant for the die-hard fans include seeing the "Star Wars" version of chess we first saw on Han Solo's Millennium Falcon and Warwick Davis back as another "Star Wars" character. He first appeared in the series as Wicket the Ewok, though in later films like "Return of the Jedi."

Ponda Baba and the always loud-mouthed Dr. Cornelius Evazan are also seen and nasty as ever. You may recall them from the cantina in "A New Hope."

Another big tie that was also in the trailers, so not much spoiling here, is Yavin 4, the rebel base, including the returns of Mon Mothma and General Dodonna, two of the leaders of the Rebellion. AT-ACT walkers are also another obvious tie that we've seen before, but nevertheless cool when Jyn Erso and her crew try to take them down.

Something that didn't surprise fans was the return of Bail Organa, Leia's adopted father, played by Jimmy Smits. He also speaks of a Jedi that helped him during "The Clone Wars," which we can assume is Obi-Wan. And of course, we see the lovable droids R2-D2 and C-3PO at some point. They end up in every film.

Two Rebellion fighter pilots make their comeback near the end of the film, which fans have been very appreciative about online.

Speaking of the end of the film, it's known that it leads into the events in "A New Hope," but after you watch "Rogue One," you find out just how much. You also get a glimpse of a very, very important character, which makes sense leading into the opening of the 1977 classic. That's not to mention the various ships, including Star Destroyers, you see that also tie into the first film.