The first official poster forStar Wars: The Force Awakenshas arrived featuringart workfrom the legendaryDrew Struzan. While no new trailer for behind-the-scenes footage was revealed for Star Wars: The Force Awakens at this weekend’sD23,Disney and Lucasfilmtreated fans to this one-sheet created specifically for the event. It isn’t know if this is the only poster that will be released featuringDrew Struzan’s artwork, or if this will be used in the theatrical promotion of the movie. It features franchise newcomersJohn Boyegaas Finn andDaisy Ridleyas Rey. Accompanying them isHarrison Fordas the legendary space pirate and scoundrelHan Solo.
Drew Struzanis one of the most famous, if not the most prolific movie poster artist of all time. And he may be most famous for theStar Warsposters he’s created throughout the years. He was responsible for the Original Trilogy posters that debuted during the 1997 re-release, and marked that set of films' final poster series. He also went onto create posters for the prequel trilogy that launched in 1999. The new art here is special in the fact that it offers our first look at Finn wielding a lightsaber.
Interesting note about Finn’s lightsaber. It is the exact same lightsaber that belonged to Anakin Skywalker, before he turned to the dark side of the force. It is the lightsaber that Obi-Wan Kenobi gives to Luke, which he first trains to become a Jedi Knight with. As we all well know, he lost the lightsaber along with his hand when confronting his father Darth Vader for the first time on Bespin. In Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Princess Leia has somehow come into possession of the artifact that was once thought to be lost. We’re not sure how it winds up in Finn’s hands.
There isn’t anything else too revelatory about the image that was released during D23. We do get to see Kylo Ren, who belongs to the Knights of Ren, and is not a Sith as originally suspected. He is obsessed with Darth Vader, and collects various artifacts belonging to both the Sith and the Jedi. It’s possible that he is on a quest to obtain Anakin’s original lightsaber, which would surely be a fine trophy for the Knight. It is also rumored that he has a nasty run-in with Han Solo that does not end well for one of the franchise’s most iconic characters. Kylo Ren is not the villain’s original name, and it’s been teased that we may already know his very famous parents. Is Han Solo his dad? Maybe.
It’s speculated that there is anotherDrew Struzanposter on the way. One that will be featured in movie theaters across the country. The poster and album cover artist has been retired for many years. But he did recently do theposterfor theBatkid Beginsdocumentary. Since his retirement, quite a few poster artists have tried to immolate his style, but as you can see with this latest one-sheet, there truly is nothing like the real thing.
