New England Patriots QB Tom Brady Embraces The Dark Side For Star Wars Halloween Costume

This year or any year, it’s pretty great to be New England Patriots star Tom Brady. The famed signal caller’s team is undefeated and sitting pretty. If that weren’t enough, he’s got a pretty rad costume lined up for Halloween tonight. Brady posted his look on Twitter today with a pretty funny caption about being a healthy exclusion from practice because he refused to take off his Stormtrooper helmet. When you haven’t lost a game this season, there is time to have some fun and roll up to the practice facility in Star Wars gear. Not like that’s very new for the quarterback as the Patriots are coming off a Super Bowl win last season. Still, it’s always fun to see celebrities and sports stars embracing fandom in their everyday lives. Now, maybe we can get the man a slightly bigger costume.

Over in the galaxy far, far away, the Stormtroopers will be looking a little different in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. The series debuted Imperial Stormtroopers back in 1977. Now, that design is one of the most recognizable villain outfits in all of sci-fi cinema. As time has passed, the concept has been expanded and modified as different variations made their debut. In the sequel trilogy of films, the First Order embraced the idea of different troopers for different tasks. These movies have delivered audiences a number of variations on the core concept. StarWars.com confirmed earlier this year that the troopers adorned in red armor will be known as “Sith troopers” in The Rise of Skywalker.

The site began, “Fans attending [San Diego Comic-Con] (July 18th-21st) will be treated to a new exhibit of trooper armor from across the Star Wars saga, including a first look at the next evolution in Imperial/First Order soldiers: the ‘Sith trooper’ from the upcoming Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. It’s a modern and more menacing look befitting its namesake.”

Rumors bubbled around the red Stormtroopers appearing in the film for months. At first, there were no details about why their armor was red. While other details have come to light, there is still a lot of mystery around this stylistic choice.

“It has some really unique aesthetics to it,” Madlyn Burkert, Lucasfilm archivist, said earlier this year. “And it has some subtle ties to previous stormtrooper designs, which I think fans will enjoy discovering.”

Fans in attendance at Comic-Con got an up-close look at not only the Sith trooper, but a number of other Stormtrooper costumes throughout the franchise’s history.

StarWars.com also noted, “A total of nine different costumes, all screen-used, will be on display at the Lucasfilm pavilion (booth #2913): Imperial stormtrooper, TIE pilot, death trooper, shoretrooper, biker scout, First Order stormtrooper, First Order TIE pilot, Captain Phasma, and Sith trooper.”

Fans first saw Imperials clad in red attire back in 1983 with Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, as Emperor Palpatine’s Imperials Guard wore the bright ensembles. In 2017’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi, audiences witnessed Supreme Leader Snoke’s Praetorian Guards, who similarly wore bright red armor. Maybe next year, Brady can go for the Red, I mean, the Pats have red alternates too, what’s to stop him?