There's just over 300 days until The Last Jedi finally blasts into cinemas, and Star Wars fans have been desperate to see just a little bit of Episode VIII. Today, in what is possibly the first official look at the new film, that opportunity came, albeit in the form of Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and Oscar Isaac on the side of a bit of promotional merch, announcing the next 'Force Friday' sales event.
While this is undoubtedly a generic piece of promotional merchandise key art, we can parse a few slim bits of information from the image:
- Rey (Ridley) is wielding Luke's blue lightsaber, last seen handing to Luke himself on the water planet.
- Finn (Boyega) seems have woken from his coma and is still wearing Poe's jacket.
- Poe (Isaac) is wearing a Resistance helmet.
- Rey has slightly different hair.
- They're all looking in different directions.
- ...
- Er...
- That's it.
Look, we're the first to admit that this is a bit flimsy. (Quite literally – it'll be printed on cardboard.) But when it comes to Star Wars, all news can be considered news. Elsewhere in the galaxy far, far away, director Rian Johnson confirmed what many had expected: that he would attend a panel at this year's Star Wars Celebration in Orlando. Could the first trailer arrive then? We can but hope.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi arrives in cinemas worldwide on December 15 – until then, there's ten months of fevered speculation over tiny, insignificant details in the desperate attempt to find a morsel of newsworthy content. Bear with us!