With just about a week to go until Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker hits theaters at last, another new poster has been released, and it’s one that old-school fans of the franchise will really appreciate.
As you can see in the gallery below, the one-sheet sports a red color scheme with Kylo Ren’s mask taking up most of the space. Rey and the First Order leader then battle in the bottom right corner of the image. If you’re familiar with rare Original Trilogy marketing material, you may recognize the layout of the poster.
That’s because this closely resembles a rarely seen Return of the Jedi poster. The layout and design of the two are a near match, with artist Rich Davies doing a terrific job of recreating the work done by the original poster’s Drew Struzan. The reason this ROTJ poster is so obscure is because the movie was still called Revenge of the Jedi at the time of its release in Christmas 1982. Following George Lucas’ decision to swap the first word out for the less violent Return, the poster was hardly used again.
Of course, the dichotomy between Rey and Ren is expected to be a major driving force of Rise. The pair became instant enemies in The Force Awakens as Kylo was jealous of such a powerful new Force user arriving on the scene and spoiling his plans. In The Last Jedi, though, the pair grew a deeper connection, as both tried to convince the other to join their team. But following Kylo murdering Snoke and doubling down on his evil ways, they’re once again on opposing sides.
Will Kylo be redeemed and become plain old Ben Solo again? Will Rey turn into Dark Rey, as that trailer moment teased? Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will reveal all on December 20th.
