There’s an impressively long-running Star Wars record that the franchise’s next movie, The Mandalorian and Grogu, could very well be breaking – one that goes all the way back to The Empire Strikes Back. Universally praised as the best Star Wars movie ever made, The Empire Strikes Back has acted as a strong foundation for other Star Wars stories ever since its premiere in 1980. It introduced one of the biggest plot twists in cinematic history with the reveal of Darth Vader as Luke Skywalker’s father among countless other sources of storytelling inspiration.

Over the years, many aspects of The Empire Strikes Back have been replicated in Star Wars, from its finer details to the entire structure of its hopeful cliffhanger ending. There is, however, one stark element of The Empire Strikes Back that has yet to be repeated in the Star Wars franchise. Now, after what will be 46 years since the original release of Empire, this popular theory about The Mandalorian and Grogu suggests that the next Star Wars movie will bring this element back, making it the first to break a long-running franchise record.

H๏τh Has Yet To Be Revisited After The Empire Strikes Back

This Planet Hasn’t Been Seen On-Screen Ever Since Its Debut

Surprisingly, the planet H๏τh has never been revisited on-screen after The Empire Strikes Back, not even in animation. This makes it one of two planets in The Empire Strikes Back to never be seen again, with Bespin being the second. Given how often Tatooine has been seen since its introduction in the original Star Wars (later reтιтled A New Hope), it’s quite shocking that a planet as well-known and recognizable as H๏τh has been left alone all these years.

Of course, what this planet needs is the right excuse to make a comeback. It hasn’t quite yet fit into a storyline in Star Wars, and even if it has in the New Republic era, the TV screen feels like much too small a stage for a planet as iconic as this to make its return. That’s part of the reason why this popular theory surrounding the upcoming The Mandalorian and Grogu movie has arisen.

The Mandalorian Movie Footage Hints At H๏τh’s Star Wars Return

Could This Snow Planet Really Be H๏τh?

In footage shown exclusively to attendees of last year’s D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, The Mandalorian and Grogu showed quite a few scenes where Din Djarin and Grogu are completing a mission on a snow planet, at one point even facing off against AT-ATs. Any Star Wars fan would be able to tell you that AT-ATs made their debut on the snowy planet of H๏τh, which makes it reasonable for those same fans to now ᴀssume that H๏τh is the location of this sequence from The Mandalorian movie. Such a direct correlation between these elements suggests as much.

The big screen would be the only suitable place for H๏τh to make its return, especially if there are AT-ATs in the mix. The action glimpsed in this footage seems worthy of it, too; Din Djarin and Grogu soloing these mᴀssive Imperial vehicles with nothing more than an Imperial walker for themselves is highly impressive. Beyond these factors, however, is a stronger one that makes this theory even more plausible, based on what we know so far about the movie’s plot.

H๏τh Would Be The Perfect Place For The Imperial Remnant To Hide

Surrounded By A Harsh Climate & Claimed By The Old Empire

H๏τh was, memorably, the location of a Rebel Alliance base named Echo Base that was overrun by Darth Vader and the Empire at the beginning of The Empire Strikes Back. ᴀssuming that base stayed under Imperial control to some degree, it would make perfect sense for members of the Imperial Remnant to continue hiding out there after the Empire’s fall, especially with such an egregious climate helping to keep them hidden. With Din Djarin now working as a contracted bounty hunter for the New Republic rangers, it would make sense for him to be sent there.

Given how little we know about the movie at this point, however, all of this remains simple speculation, though the theory is quite popular – and it’s about time that H๏τh returns to Star Wars. This would give it a wonderful legacy, allowing the iconic snow planet to shine on the big screen while evolving its history in the Star Wars galaxy. While The Mandalorian and Grogu may very well be introducing a new snow planet to audiences, it’s still very possible that it will indeed be shattering a 46-year-old record by bringing H๏τh back to Star Wars.