About

"Well Whadya Know" is a memorable quote uttered by the alien character Dex in the film Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones. Online, the phrase is frequently used in conjunction with screenshots from the film to express feigned surprise, or used as the subject line for Star Wars-related posts.

Origin

The phrase comes from a scene in _Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones. In the film, Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) visits the character Dex Jettster, owner of Dex's Diner, for information on a poisoned dart.^[1] Upon seeing the dart, Dex says, "Well, whadya know? I ain't seen one of these since I was prospecting on Subterrel."

The earliest known instance of the meme occurred on January 13th 2017, when Redditor A_Fancy_Lizard posted a TFW reaction image on the /r/PrequelMemes subreddit (shown below).^[2] The post was made under the subject "Wow… whaddya know!"

Spread

The meme evolved on March 5th, 2017, when Redditor LANwichmonarch posted a new Dex scene, again from scene in the Dex's Diner.^[6]

On March 8th, 2017, two variations of the meme appeared on /r/PrequelMemes^[3] and Instagram respectively. Again, under the subject "Wellllll whadya knoww" Redditor nighthawk8997 posted a variation on the meme, focusing on "well whadya know" (shown below, left). In 20 days, the post received more than 8,400 points (97% upvoted) and 175 comments. The next day, on March 9th, 2017, a variation on the meme appeared on /r/PrequelMemes, this time using a scene from Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith (shown below, right). ^[5]

"Whadya Know" appeared on Facebook for the first time on March 22, 2017, Star Wars meme account Duros-core shared a photo from ShitpostBot 5000 and adding the caption "Well whaddya know.^[7][8] However, this time neither Dex nor a Star Wars prequel appeared.

On March 25th, 2017, two new memes appears on /r/PrequelMemes, moving the focus back on the character of Dex.^[9][10] The first of which moved the action to a scene from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and received more than 9,775 points (90% upvoted) and 154 comments.

The meme came into greater prominence on March 28th, 2017 as numerous examples of the meme appeared /r/PrequelMemes. Redditor milkshakeforever posted a meme that commented on the newfound popularity, which received over a 1,000 points (99% upvoted).^[11]

The meme reached higher popularity when Redditor STAR_boii posted a variation on the meme to /r/PrequelMemes and received more than 14,700 points (89% upvoted) and 180 comments.^[12]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References