Though die-hard fans might wish otherwise, the Star Wars Holiday Special isn't technically canon. However, that hasn't stopped the creators from pulling elements from the Holiday Special into the franchise's universe. Characters, items and locations of varying importance that were featured in the 1978 TV special have since appeared in canonical Star Wars properties as early as The Empire Strikes Back.
Boba Fett
Boba Fett is possibly the most famous carryover from the Holiday Special, where he appeared in the animated segment of the show. He introduced himself to Han, Luke, Chewbacca and C-3PO and initially helped them by going to retrieve a serum to counteract a virus Han and Luke contracted. However, he was soon revealed to be a bounty hunter working for Darth Vader, and once Han and Luke were cured, they sent him away. When he later appeared in The Empire Strikes Back, he was still a bounty hunter working for Darth Vader, but the other characters had to learn who he was all over again. He was ultimately responsible for turning carbonite-frozen Han Solo over to Jabba the Hutt and met his "end" when he fell into the Sarlacc pit in Return of the Jedi.
Boba Fett's backstory was set up in the prequel trilogy and related cartoons; he was the unaltered clone of Jango Fett, raised as his son. Boba was trained to fight as a child and ultimately swore vengeance against Mace Windu for killing his father. He became a bounty hunter and ran a crime syndicate, eventually inheriting his Jango's Mandalorian armor, and he later teamed up with Vader and the Empire. The Mandalorian Season 2 revealed that Fett survived the Sarlacc pit, teamed up with an injured Fennec Shand, temporarily joined with Din Djarin and ultimately returned to Jabba's palace for revenge. The upcoming and highly anticipated Disney+ series, The Book of Boba Fett, will follow Fett and Shand's adventures after taking Jabba's throne by force.
Amban Phase-Pulse Blaster
This rifle didn't technically appear in the Holiday Special; it's original to The Mandalorian, where it's wielded by Din Djarin. However, the Amban phase-pulse blaster's design is based on the weapon used by Boba Fett in the Holiday Special. Djarin first used his blaster to fight off a ravinak, paralleling Fett using his similar weapon to fight off a Panna dragon in the 1978 special.
Kashyyyk
Kashyyyk is introduced in the Holiday Special as Chewbacca's home planet, though the only exterior shots featured are of his family's home and the trees directly surrounding it. It is the Wookiee homeworld, though it was invaded and colonized several times. The Trade Federation tried to take the planet repeatedly. It was a strategic location for the Galactic Republic and came under attack by the Confederacy of Independent Systems (as seen in Revenge of the Sith). When the Republic became the Empire, the Emperor enslaved the Wookiee population and blockaded the planet. After the war, the planet eventually regained its independence.
Life Day
The Star Wars Holiday Special is centered on Chewbacca's attempts to get back to Kashyyyk to celebrate Life Day, a Wookiee holiday in place of Christmas. The day is focused on "family, joy, and harmony," and traditionally celebrated by Wookiees at the Tree of Life on Kashyyyk. Many Life Day traditions are closely based on real-world Christmas traditions: large meals, decorations, gift exchanges and songs. Life Day and the red robes and ceremonial orbs associated with it have long been memes in the Star Wars' fandom, but recent installments in the franchise like The Mandalorian have cemented the holiday's status as not only canonical but something that has grown to be celebrated by sentients across the galaxy.
Chewbacca's Family
The Holiday Special stars Chewbacca's family: his wife Mallatobuck (Malla), his son Lumpawaroo (Lumpy) and his father Attichitcuk (Itchy). They wait anxiously for Chewbacca to get home for Life Day. Between being interrogated by Imperial troops and communicating with Han, Leia and Luke, they all watch and interact with different segments of the variety show. Malla cooks along to an alien's cooking show; Lumpy watches both a hologram of some acrobats performing with the aforementioned cartoon that inexplicably stars his father; and Itchy watches and leches on a song by a digital seductress played by Diahann Carroll. Each of these characters later appear in canonical material. However, Malla is mentioned in the young reader's novel, A New Hope: The Princess, The Scoundrel, and the Farm Boy. Lumpy (now Waroo) appears in Aftermath: Empire's End, and Attichitcuk was mentioned in Solo: A Star Wars Story: Tales from Vandor.
Gormaanda
Gormaanda was the chef featured in the cooking show that Malla watched in the Holiday Special. The scene was mostly notable for Gormaanda's four-armed "stir, whip" sequence. Gormaanda (whose name is an obvious pun on "gourmand") has since been mentioned in A Recipe For Death, a 2016 short story about the death of a sous chef working at Maz Kanata's Takodana Castle.
Ackmena
Ackmena appears in the Star Wars Holiday Special as a bartender at a cantina on Tatooine. She's shown serving patrons and performs a musical number, bidding her customers good night when the Empire calls curfew. She later appeared in the 2016 reference book, Star Wars: Complete Locations, and two stories in the 2017 anthology, From a Certain Point of View, which established that she tended bar, ran a moneymaking "side hustle" and had a wife named Sorschi.
