Someone Finally Found the Long-Rumored George Lucas Cameo in ‘Star Wars: The Phantom Menace’

For years, Star Wars fans have scoured The Phantom Menace looking for hidden details, but one Easter egg has just been officially confirmed: George Lucas himself appears in the film. Thanks to a former ILM (Industrial Light & Magic) matte painter, Caroleen “Jett” Green, we now know exactly where to find this long-rumored cameo.

The Hidden Lucas Cameo

At approximately 1 hour, 58 minutes, and 17 seconds into the movie (if you’re watching on Disney+) or 1:35 timestamp of the video below, Queen Amidala and her palace guards are seen running through the Theed Royal Palace. In the background of the shot, there’s a grand stone archway. At the very top of this arch, embedded within the artwork, is a small, barely noticeable relief—one that happens to be the face of George Lucas himself.

Jett Green, who worked on the digital matte paintings used to expand the practical sets of Theed Palace, noticed that the arch had an empty oval-shaped space that resembled a traditional portrait plaque. That’s when she had an idea: why not add a familiar face to it? She took an image of George Lucas and subtly placed it in the design, expecting it to blend into the background as a fun inside joke.

Lucas’s Reaction: “Naughty, Naughty”

When Green showed her work to one of the Episode I visual effects supervisors, Scott Squires, he immediately pointed out that they would need Lucas’s approval. Not long after, the Star Wars creator himself, surrounded by his entourage, approached Green’s desk to review the alteration. His response? A smirk and the words: “Oh, naughty, naughty.”

Despite the playful reprimand, Lucas ultimately gave the nod to keep it in the film. As Green put it, “I knew that I wasn’t going to get in trouble.” And just like that, Lucas’s first Star Wars cameo was sealed into cinematic history.

The Rumor That Never Died

This discovery confirms a long-standing rumor that Lucas had been inserted somewhere in The Phantom Menace, but fans had never pinpointed exactly where. For years, discussions about his potential cameo swirled around online forums, with some claiming to have spotted him while others remained skeptical. As Reddit user RangerRen noted, the rumor had existed for a while, but “what’s new is that now we know exactly where and how it came to be.”

Not everyone was surprised, though. User slumlord mentioned that the Easter egg had been documented as early as 1999 on sites like eeggs.com, though many fans had either forgotten about it or never saw the correct image. Meanwhile, others reacted with excitement. “Holy s***! Just when I thought these films had been dissected to the last pixel. That’s awesome!” exclaimed user krlozdac.

Lucas’s Other Cameos

While this hidden detail marks Lucas’s first-ever appearance in a Star Wars movie, it’s not the last. He later made a more recognizable cameo as Baron Papanoida in Revenge of the Sith (2005), where he briefly appears as a blue-skinned opera patron on Coruscant.

Additionally, he had a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984).

However, The Phantom Menace cameo is unique in that it was subtly placed without official acknowledgment—until now.