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The Twilight Zone Reboot: All the Easter Eggs So Far

Here are all the references we've spotted so far

Twilight Zone Easter Eggs
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The pig nose

The very first image we see in the new Twilight Zone contains a subtle Easter egg. As we overhear Samir (Kumail Nanjiani), the titular comedian, start his beleaguered set, we are shown a bit of the club's audience-themed wallpaper. If you look closely enough, some of the noses of the people in the crowd seem to be exaggerated and even pig-shaped, which is probably a nod to one of the original Twilight Zone's most iconic reveals in "Eye of the Beholder."

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What's in a name

In "The Comedian," once Samir (Kumail Nanjiani) figures out that he's effectively been given the power to undo a bunch of murders, he starts perusing the internet for options. One name he comes across in the search is Walter Bedeker, the name of character in "Escape Clause" who trades his soul to the Devil for immortality and eventually finds himself behind bars after his wife is killed trying to rescue him from one of his death-defying stunts.

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The seer

Another name that pops up in "The Comedian" is William Fitzgerald, which is the name of the leading character in "The Purple Testament," an episode about a World War II soldier who is able to predict people's deaths by a glow he sees on their faces. The same name appears in the green room above the club's sign just as Samir (Kumail Nanjiani) takes in what he's done to his nephew and others. The parallels are obvious, as he, too, can predict someone's death -- er, undoing -- by simply saying their name.

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The ventriloquist act

Another object fans of the original Twilight Zone are bound to notice in the reboot's inaugural episode is the ventriloquist dummy that's hanging out in the green room at Eddie's Comedy Club. Nanjiani told Vanity Fair that the doll is the actual prop that memorably appeared in the original series in the episode "The Dummy." There's no sign that this doll will animate and destroy anyone's life, though.

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Shared air

Next we see in "Nightmare at 30,000 Feet" that the flight is operated by Northern Goldstar Airlines -- a wink to the fact that the original episode's hubbub took place onboard a Gold Star Airways flight.

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Honoring Rod Serling

Some eagle-eyed fans on Reddit noticed a very personal tribute to Rod Serling, the creative genius behind the original Twilight Zone. At the tail end of the show's second episode, "Nightmare at 30,000 Feet," as host Jordan Peele retrieves that troublesome podcast device, the camera lingers on a glimpse of his bracelet, which looks to be a replica of the paratrooper bracelet Serling used to wear as a memento of his military service in World War II.

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Read the fine print

The road signs in "Replay" also contain several winks to characters past. Tennyson, the name of the university, is also the name of the central character in "The Silence," about a man who's challenged to remain wordless for a full year. Corrigan is the name of a man from "Back There," who tries to change the past but faces unintended consequences. This episode's connection to that concept is clear.

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Ominous numbers

The license plate of Sanaa Lathan's car is 2D-7876, which is also the license plate number in "The Hitch Hiker," an iconic episode from the original Twilight Zone's first season about a traveler named Nan who keeps running across the same wayfarer for a very twisted reason.

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The dummy's in the details
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The dummy's in the details

"A Traveler," in which a mysterious man (Steven Yeun) shows up in a rural Alaskan jail cell without explanation, hides plenty of references to other Twilight Zone episodes in the Christmas decorations around the police station. The image of the ventriloquist dummy from classic episode "The Dummy" -- the same one that appeared in the background of "The Comedian" -- appears on wrapping paper early in the episode.

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A tale of two bars

The bar in "Wunderkind" is clearly the same set as the one used for Eddie's Comedy Club in "The Comedian." It could just be a case of the show reusing a set -- but given the way the rebooted series is hinting that these stories take place in an interconnected universe, this bar could have deeper meaning. Maybe Eddie's went out of business after its star comedian disappeared from the stage.

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Whipple world domination

Whipple continues to loom large in "Six Degrees of Freedom." The company logo can be seen on just about every product in the episode, including the rocket, the astronauts' space suits, and even the pens that are floating around in zero gravity.

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The meta element

The Twilight Zone's Season 1 finale, "Blurryman," takes the series into full-on meta mode, as writer Sophie (Zazie Beetz) tries to write an episode that pays proper homage to the original Twilight Zone, with her Rod Sterling computer sticker serving as proof of her lasting fandom of the series.

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Watch your glasses

Once she embraces her unshakable connection to The Twilight Zone, Sophie's (Zazie Beetz) world turns black and white, and she steps through a door and walks right into wrecked landscape of "Time Enough at Last," right down to the broken glasses on the library steps.

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The ultimate cameo

Once Sophie (Zazie Beetz) discovers that there's been a background actor sneaking into every episode of The Twilight Zone reboot, she decides to give in and find out the secrets of this mysterious figure, who turns out to be none other than original series creator Rod Serling himself. We checked, and there was indeed a suit-sporting gent seen in each of the nine episodes that preceded "Blurryman."

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