A slew of new images from The Last Jedi debuted in Entertainment Weekly today, with many fans thrilled at images of Rey, Luke, and Finn, but there were also interesting reveals of new background characters like Snoke’s Praetorian Guards.
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Check out the photo below for our first look at the elite members of the First Order.
In Return of the Jedi, Emperor Palpatine was flanked by guards cloaked in crimson with the implication being that these Imperials were far from clumsy Stormtroopers. The Last Jedi aims to continue that tradition of emblazoning the elite in bright colors, as seen by Snoke’s personal security detail.
“The Emperor’s guards were very formal, and you always got the sense that they could fight, but they didn’t,” writer-director Rian Johnson explained to Entertainment Weekly. “They looked like they were more ceremonial, and you never really saw them in action. The Praetorians, my brief to [costume designer] Michael Kaplan was that those guys have to be more like samurai. They have to be built to move, and you have to believe that they could step forward and engage if they have to. They have to seem dangerous.”
The more elegant name of “Praetorian” wasn’t just an attempt to sound more mysterious, but was intentionally chosen as a reference to guards who protected Roman emperors.
“If we can get kids’ ears to perk up in history class a little bit when they hear that, that’d be a cool thing,” Johnson admitted.
These first images of the guards also confirm the rumor that we’ll being seeing Snoke himself in the flesh, rather than just as a hologram as he appeared in The Force Awakens.
“They’re his personal guards,” Johnson noted. “They stick with [Snoke]. So they’re essentially bodyguards.”
We’ll get to see more of Snoke and his guards when Star Wars: The Last Jedi premieres in theaters December 15th.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is the second film in the new Star Wars sequel trilogy that began with Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 2015. The film will deal with Luke training Rey to become a, and possibly the last, Jedi. Meanwhile, the Resistance, including Poe Dameron and First Order defector Finn, continues to fight against the First Order, led by General Hux, while Supreme Leader Snoke and his Dark Side follower Kylo Ren continue their mysterious plot.
