Film + TV

This new Star Wars character is named after the Beastie Boys

by Jesse Locke

With the months counting down to J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: The Force Awakens film, superfans are champing at the bit for any new information. The obsessives over at YakFace and Making Star Wars have now unveiled a new character with a surprising musical connection. Say hello to Ello Asty!

According to Making Star Wars founder Jason Ward, this intergalactic being takes his name from the Beastie Boys’ 1998 album Hello Nasty with a helmet that reads “Born to Ill” in an obscure Abenedo dialect. What’s Abenedo, you ask? Ward explains:

“His species is named Abednedo in [the books] Moving Target and Aftermath. The Beastie Boys song “Shadrach” references the Judaeo-Christian parable of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. So, he’s super Beastie.”

As io9 reports (with a few more images of the Ello Asty action figure) director J.J. Abrams has already tipped the hat of his Beastie Boys fandom by using their song “Sabotage” in his 2009 Star Trek film. Revisit that clip below:

[h/t Uproxx]