You placed your votes. You know the winner. You’ve seen the subscriber cover (over here, in case you haven’t). Now it’s time to reveal the newsstand cover for Empire’s Greatest Star Wars Characters of All Time issue – or covers, we should say. Yes, when the magazine hits the shelves later this week you’ll have six designs to choose from, showing off the best classic and current characters from a galaxy far, far away.
First up is the winner of the poll, the galaxy’s coolest rebel and most swaggering smuggler, Han Solo.
Next it’s the all-time worst movie dad (Thanos comes in at a close second) – Darth Vader in his prime, with his red Sith lightsaber held aloft.
On the third cover is Tattooine’s finest, Luke Skywalker – the unassuming farmboy who discovered a family legacy more powerful than he could ever have imagined.
Rounding out the classic characters, Leia takes centre stage on the fourth cover – the rebel Princess-turned-General who helped bring down the Empire and strangled Jabba with his own chains.
Enter the new Skywalker generation – taking the family lineage back down a dark path, Han and Leia’s son Ben Solo, aka Kylo Ren, broods on cover five.
The re-awakening of the Force thankfully also means the rise of Rey to counteract Kylo Ren. The sequel saga’s new Jedi hero is on the sixth and final cover.
Stay tuned for more info about what’s inside the issue (the full top 50 list of Star Wars characters is in there), but expect fresh coverage of Corin Hardy’s Conjuring horror The Nun, Travis Knight’s Transformers spin-off Bumblebee, the return of Ivan Drago in Creed II, and James Cameron and Robert Rodriguez’s Alita: Battle Angel. Then there’s a 30th anniversary look-back at the Naked Gun, and Heathers writer Daniel Waters and director Michael Lehmann look back on the legacy of the ultra-dark teen movie.
Pick up Empire’s September issue on newsstands from Thursday 9 August, and you can pre-order a copy online here.
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