The One Star Wars Character That Constantly Pops Up In South Park

"South Park" has lampooned various topics throughout its ongoing run, and bar only a few necessary apologies, they've had a pretty good track record. The show takes inspiration from many different pop culture sources to finely craft its iconic comedy, and one source that "South Park" loves to poke fun at is Star Wars.

Like most, creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone grew up watching the iconic film series — and they have strong opinions, as most fans do. For instance, while talking to The Ringer, Stone voiced his frustration with "The Force Awakens" getting a good review from The New York Times, arguing that, "I like the movie, I thought it had amazing acting and I don't wanna sit here and bad-mouth that, but this is like lab-grown meat. This is a secondary derivative of something that was from 40 years ago." The creation of "South Park" gave the comedy duo an outlet to voice these frustrations with one of the franchises. A prime example of this is Season 3, Episode 4, "Jakovasaurs," where the group discovers the titular creature that is very reminiscent of the "Star Wars: Episode I" character Jar Jar Binks. Parker said, "The Jar Jar thing just made us so angry that we decided to dedicate a whole show to how stupid it was" (via Showbiz Cheat Sheet).

Of course, seeing as "South Park" includes countless pop culture references, many of them go unnoticed, and one long-running "Star Wars" gag may have slipped by some fans.

While Parker and Stone include numerous references to the iconic space opera throughout their show, one of their longest-running Easter Eggs is Chewbacca appearing on Halloween. 

The trend began in Season 1, Episode 7, "Pink Eye." The Halloween episode featured Kyle dressing up as Chewie and hoping to impress the rest of his classmates with his unique costume. When the gang arrives at school, everyone in the class is wearing Chewbacca costumes that match Kyle's, and their teacher, Mr. Garrison, proclaims that it's a popular costume this year. In Season 2, Episode 14, "Chef Aid," lawyer Johnny Cochrane uses Chewbacca Defense in a court case. In Season 3, Episode 10, "Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery," Kenny is determined to win the costume contest and arrives in a fully functioning robot war machine. He still manages to lose as Wendy places first in the competition with a simplistic Chewbacca costume. Viewers can spot similar outfits in the background of other Halloween episodes.

Why Parker and Stone included so many Chewbacca cameos throughout "South Park," outside of their enjoyment of Star Wars, is still a mystery. The duo often use the wonderfully offensive show as a medium to voice many of their own opinions, as is evident in Randy's Season 20 Episode 5 argument that relates to and partially blames "The Force Awakens" for the result of the 2016 election (via Decider), an argument echoes Stone's correlation between the two (via The Ringer).