Gone are the Rebellion and Empire. In a post-Return of the Jedi world, the good guys are the Resistance and the bad guys are the First Order. How and why? We don’t know yet, but two new images from Star Wars: The Force Awakens highlight both of these new groups.
Those are the covers to the new issue of Empire Magazine, which will hit newsstands next week. In the Resistance image, we see rogue stormtrooper Finn (John Boyega), desert loner Rey (Daisy Ridley) and hot-shot pilot Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) along with droid BB-8 on the planet of Jakku, next to the Millennium Falcon, with an army of TIE Fighters on their tail.
The First Order images features Captain Phasma (Gwendoline Christie), Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) and General Hux (Domhnall Gleeson) with a whole bunch of Stormtroopers on what is potentially Starkiller Base.
Now, you probably noticed a few things here. First, these are not from the film. They’re photoshops for the magazine covers. Still cool, though. Also, in the First Order cover, the Stormtroopers are wearing armor from the original trilogy. They don’t have a smoother back of a First Order Stormtrooper. Is this some kind of reveal? Or just a mistake? Probably the latter. Same with the fact the Falcon has the satellite that was broken off in Return of the Jedi. We’ve clearly seen that was replaced in The Force Awakens trailers. So what gives?
It’s also important to note that these seven characters are pretty much the only ones J.J. Abrams and Lucasfilm are revealing at the moment. That may change with a second trailer (rumored for release next month) but things are very centered on these characters right now, with a tiny bit of Han and Chewie thrown in. Where’s Snoke? Where’s Maz? Where’s whomever Max Von Sydow is playing? Very mysterious, things in a galaxy far, far away continue to be.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens December 18.
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