Lightyear’s post-credit scenes explained

Toy Story spin-off Lightyear hit cinemas this week, and gave audiences their first look at the film character who inspired the toy that featured in the 1995 movie. But does it have a post-credit sting? And if so what does that scene set-up? Read on to find out, just BEWARE OF LIGHTYEAR SPOILERS AHEAD…

Lightyear is a pretty strange concept to get your head around, being the fictional story of the fictional character that inspired a toy that appeared in the Toy Story films.

The Buzz Lightyear in this iteration is a serious Star Commander who crashes his ship, maroons his crew on a distant planet, and spends the rest of the movie trying to save them.

Buzz does rescue them, defeating his enemy Zurg in the process, and the brand-new set of characters live happily ever after. Or do they?

Does Lightyear have a post-credit scene?

Lightyear has a post-credit scene. In fact it has three of them, although two are little more than humorous stings to leave you with a smile on your face.

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The first post-credit scene features Commander Burnside, who is voiced by The Wire star Isiah Whitlock. Burnside is sitting in his office with his feet on his desk. In the background an insect flies into the lazer shield that the Commander is so obsessed with. Burnside chuckles to himself and says, “lazer shield.”

The second post-credit scene features robot ERIC – voiced by Lightyear helmer Angus MacLane – struggling with directions. Again. “If you’re not in a hurry this would be your most direct route” the robot claims, in a callback to a joke we didn’t think worked first time around.

What happens in Lightyear’s major post-credit scene?

But the big post-credit sting is the third. That’s because Buzz had seemingly dispatched nemesis Zurg at the end of the movie. However, it turns out that wasn’t the case.

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After the credits have completely rolled, the audience is thrust back into space, where amongst the debris, floating through the stars, is none other than Zurg.

The character seems to be dead, but then his eyes flash on, suggesting he’s very much alive, and paving the way for Zurg to be the big bad in a sequel.

Whether that happens will depend on the success of Lightyear, but director MacLane is keen to tell more stories in this universe. Speaking to Screen Rant, MacLane said, “To me, I look at it as what I liked about Star Wars is that it always allowed for the expansion of what the world could be. I think that that open-endedness is often what’s most exciting.”

Lightyear is in cinemas now.