When Empire announced that they’d be releasing six brand new Star Wars: The Force Awakens character covers, a lot of fans thought we might just get our first official glimpse of Mark Hamill as the returning Luke Skywalker. Unfortunately, it really does look like that particular reveal is going to be kept tightly locked inside J.J. Abrams’ mystery box until the movie hits theaters next month, but there’s still some awesome new images of the rest of the principal cast – minus Carrie Fisher’s Princess Leia and Domhnall Gleeson’s general Hux, that is.
First up is a lady who seems poised to take over Luke’s role as the unassuming  young hero of the saga, Daisy Ridley as Rey. She’ll likely share that role to some extent with former Stormtrooper Finn (John Boyega), seen here wielding what’s believed to be Luke’s old lightsaber.
Next up is another new character that’s taken a bit of a backseat in most of the promotion thus far, hot-shot pilot Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac). For the dark side, we have the chrome-suited Captain Phasma (Gwendoline Christie), and the sinister Kylo Ren (Adam Driver). Finally, there’s a couple of true icons of the saga: Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew).
The mag has still to unveil their subscriber’s cover, so there’s always a chance we will get to see Luke… but I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens is set to be released on December 18th, 2015.
