We've seen plenty of images from the upcoming STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI over the past week, which has made the painfully long wait for the much-anticipated sequel slightly more bearable, or worse, from a certain point of view. A fresh crop of images have now emerged to give us all another small peek into the film. Just last week we got a look at the subscriber cover of an upcoming issue of Empire which featured Luke Skywalker's (Mark Hamill) robotic hand reaching out to take his lightsaber from Rey (Daisy Ridley). The newsstand cover of that same issue has also been revealed, showing off more of Luke and Rey, and, like the subscriber cover, it will be holographic. Oooo.
One of the new locations which we'll be introduced to in STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI will be the casino city of Canto Bight on the planet of Cantonica. It's there that Finn (John Boyega) and Rose (Kelly Marie Tran) find themselves on a vital mission for the Resistance. It will also provide an opportunity for the creature department to showcase a new and exciting group of aliens, but what really motivated THE LAST JEDI director Rian Johnson to include the city was to give fans something which hadn't been seen all that much in the franchise. "I wanted a new environment that was like dunking your head in a cool bath of water, right in the middle of movie," explained Johnson. "Apart from the prequels, all the touchstones that make something feel like Star Wars have to do with griminess and dirt. I wanted to do something completely different." You can see a glimpse of Canto Bight in this exclusive Empire image if you missed it this morning.
In order to bring the fight to the First Order, the Resistance has given Poe Dameron's (Oscar Isaac) X-Wing a bit of an upgrade by putting a temporary accelerator pod on its rear end. Rian Johnson told Empire that this modification will give Poe's fighter, code-named Black One, a temporary boost which will allow him to outrun First Order cannon emplacements, but, the boost burns out quickly.
The remaining images show off Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) in his dark robes on Ahch-To, as well as a good look at every crevasse and scar on Supreme Leader Snoke's (Andy Serkis) wrinkled face, courtesy of a set of Star Wars stamps and an image from the Star Wars Trading Card app.
STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI will hit theaters on December 15, 2017.