8 Incredible Things The New Star Wars Poster Is Secretly Telling Us To Expect

IT'S HERE.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens has finally got a proper poster, calling on all the design cues of Drew Struzan's legendary original artwork.

Hidden betwixt its shiny details are a whole heap of clues and hints as to what we can expect from J J Abram's addition to the legendary franchise. 

Given our reliance on speculation, guesswork and internet rumours, we wouldn't deem the following as 'spoilers', but if you want to go into The Force Awakens with innocent purity, best not press on with this list. You'll be able to judge how well we do when the new full-length trailer arrives on Monday evening.

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There's a new Death Star

Look at it. It's all big and round and that glowing red circle of light looks ominously powerful.

There's even the faintest hint of a forcefield around it's exposed middle - probably a defence that'll stop any pesky Jedi from shooting torpedoes into its exhaust vents.

There's a new Jar Jar

WHO THE HELL IS THIS GUY?

There have been a few aliens on Star Wars posters before: Yoda, Jabba the Hut, Chewbacca, Darth Maul - and Jar Jar Binks. 

Here's hoping this little goggled guy hanging out with R2-D2 and C3PO is more "cool, super cute nerd alien that fixes stuff" rather than "f*cking annoying and slightly racist alien included for the kids".

There are different types of Stormtrooper

The hapless foot soldiers of the Empire have sported a variety of armoured suits over the franchise: there's been Scout Troopers, Shadow Troopers, Imperial Heavy Troopers, Imperial Jumptroopers... you get the idea.

Lined up along with the new Stormtroopers at the foot of the new poster are some guys with even more streamlined helmets, with much less detailing. They're also holding much, much bigger guns. Elite Stormtroopers? We've no idea.

The old timers

Han is back. Chewie still has his bowcaster. Leia has new hair.

It's clear that these old faces will have an important part to play in the new film, but their lower, central position on the poster seems to indicate that they won't be taking centre stage. That's reserved for...

Your main characters

Just so you're up to scratch on who these three are, that's Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) in the aggressive-looking hockey mask. He's not a Sith, but rather a Sith-obsessive and number one Darth Vader fan boy. He works for the 'First Order' and is keen to take down any claiming to be Jedi. 

The central hero is Rey (Daisy Ridley), a scavenger from Jakku, who could well a Skywalker - though as to whether she's a descendant of Luke, or part of the Solo family is unknown.

Finally, our other 'hero' is Finn (John Boyega): once a Stormtrooper with the First Order, he escapes (watch the trailers). He's apparently Force-sensitive, and that's Luke Skywalker's old lightsaber he's swinging about.

Captain Phasma

This chrome badass is Captain Phasma, played by Gwendoline Christie of Game of Thrones fame.

Commander of the First Order’s legions of troopers, we're betting she's about to take the "bad guy you love" baton from Boba Fett.

The other new guys

If you've seen any of the trailers so far, you'll know that BB-8 (Rey's personal droid) is set to capture droid-lovers hearts, while Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) is set to be the hard-as-nails X-Wing pilot everyone under the age of 12 is going to want to be when they grow up.

The missing Jedi

There's one glaring omission from the poster that has a significant bearing on the story of Force Awakens - there's no Luke Skywalker. 

Which is weird. Mark Hamill was amongst the first names confirmed for the film, appearing in several of the teaser trailers so far. So why should he be missing?

One 'leaked' synopsis for the new film details a major strand of The Force Awakens being a search for Luke, who's gone into hiding following the fall of the Empire.

Is that who everyone seems to be looking out of the poster for? Is he over here? How about over there? Luke? LUKE!