J.J. Abrams Spills The Beans On Starkiller Base, General Hux And Kylo Ren In Star Wars: The Force Awakens

If our calculations are correct, today ought to be the final day of Entertainment Weekly’s coverage of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, now that the outlet has exhausted just about every possible plot trinket within its cover story piece. We’ve seen exclusive images (which you can check out below), poured over tantalizing tidbits and engaged in fierce debates over the finer elements of the story.

How and ever, today’s media dump focuses on the darker side of the Force and, in particular, their newfound galactic hub. Starkiller Base is the name, and wreaking interplanetary destruction is the game. But as director J.J. Abrams reveals in an interview with EW, the First Order’s all-powerful weapon of mass destruction is much different than the Death Star – or, rather, two Death Stars – that preceded it.

Indeed, Abrams notes that the fall of the Galactic Empire is very much woven into the fabric of the movie, including the Rebel Alliance’s destruction of their former hub of operations. This in turned paved the way for a weapon that is “far greater” than the Death Star.

“It is very much — and it’s acknowledged as such in the movie — apparently another Death Star,” Abrams says. “But what it’s capable of, how it works, and what the threat is, is far greater than what the Death Star could have done. Starkiller Base is another step forward, technologically speaking, in terms of power.”

But what of the boots on the ground? Adam Driver and Domnhall Gleeson are on board to play Kylo Ren and General Hux, respectively, and it’s the latter actor who offered a handful of new details regarding the dynamic between the nefarious, power-mongering pairing.

“There’s an air of superiority, and being better than those people around you,” Gleeson says of the character. “He’s pretty ruthless. A strong disciplinarian would be a mild way of putting it….You don’t get that high up in your life that quickly unless you’re pretty ruthless.You have to put a few people down on the way to get there.”

J.J. Abrams will bring together old friends and new ones, past nemeses and emerging threats when Star Wars: The Force Awakens lands in theaters on December 18. Until then, check out those aforementioned images below.