Adventure? Excitement? New movie posters? A Jedi craves not these things, but nonetheless, the unveiling of the official theatrical poster for had the internet in quite a lather on Sunday night.
As you might expect, the design, which is in the familiar Star Wars montage style, features many of the main characters, old and new, from the movie, which was partly filmed in Abu Dhabi.
Among the new recruits, Rey (played by Daisy Ridley) is seen wielding a staff, while Finn (John Boyega) and the masked Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) are holding lightsabres, the traditional weapons of warriors of The Force.
Ridley and Boyega's lack of masks, prosthetics or excessive make-up suggest that the pair are leaning towards the Light Side side of the force, aka the Jedi Knights, while Driver's masked Ren is, as we already know, clearly a baddy – though it's not known whether he is part of the Sith, as Darth Vader was, or a new sect that has risen from the ashes following the defeat of the Empire in Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.
Old favourites Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) and Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) also make the poster, along with a selection of spaceships, including the Millennium Falcon, as do R2-D2 (Kenny Baker), C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) and new droid BB-8. In the background, there is what appears to be a planet-sized, spherical, weaponised object. What looks like a new version of the Death Star is actually a “Star Killer”, an ice planet that has been converted into a powerful weapon.
One character conspicuous by his absence from the poster is Luke Skywalker (Mark Hammill). His omission raised a few internet grumbles.
A new trailer for The Force Awakens was due to debut at about 8pm yesterday at United States Eastern Time – 4am today in the UAE – during ESPN's Monday Night Football, in the half-time break during the game between the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles.
