Star Wars fans have been overlooking a key plot point for 20 years, oops

It turns out there’s a big moment in Star Wars that fans have overlooked for years, and are only just realising it.

Love them or hate them, it’s undeniable that George Lucas’ Star Wars prequels have some interesting details sprinkled throughout them.

One of the advantages of having one creator oversee an entire trilogy is you’re getting their singular vision, warts and all.

A particular detail from the prequels has eluded some fans for all these years, and it’s really helped to flesh out a specific character.

The detail occurs at the end of The Phantom Menace, in which Obi-Wan defeats Darth Maul by relieving him of his legs and sending him flying down a large air shaft.

This moment is called back to later at the end of Revenge of the Sith, during the fight between Obi-Wan and Anakin.

“In 20 years since I've been a fan, I never realised the move Obi-Wan used to kill Maul was the same move Anakin tried to attempt to jump over Obi-Wan when they were fighting in Mustafar,” wrote one Star Wars fan on Reddit.

“I cannot believe I'm just now realising that. It's like Obi-Wan baited him into doing that because he knew exactly how to counter it. I'm dumb lol. That's literally why he said, ‘Don't try it.’”

To be fair, it’s very easy to miss this as a direct reference to The Phantom Menace, as it’s not really set up to be visually similar to the scene the move previously appeared in.

Also, we’re still distracted at this point by that awful “I have the high ground” line from Obi-Wan, so it makes sense why people might not have realised this.

“He also baited Maul in their last fight in Rebels,” wrote a reply in the comments. “He did three poses and ended with the one Qui-Gon used against Maul. Mail tried the same move he used against Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan quickly countered.”

One user also suggested the reason why Anakin might have tried the move, writing: “Obi-Wan killed the first Sith seen in forever with an unbelievable Hail Mary attack that should not have worked. From this point through most of Anakin's training, it would be a major topic. He’d hear the story over and over and Anakin being Anakin would study it in his mind.”

It does make the prequels a little more interesting by expanding on Obi-Wan’s skills as a Jedi, as well as doubling down on Anakin’s obsession with victory.

It’s something that would later be explored in the Obi-Wan Kenobi TV miniseries for Disney Plus.