MARCH OF THE SPACE PENGUINS
The Porgs and four other things we discovered in the new Star
Wars: The Last Jedi footage JAMES DYER
DIRECTOR RIAN JOHNSON and the cast of The Last Jedi braved armies of Cinderella cosplayers at Disney’s D23 Expo to unveil a new behind-the-scenes video. A treasure trove of clues and rumour confirmations, we break down the five big ones below. WARNING! SPOILERS!
1. rey will take on the Knights Of Ren
Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver’s training clips raise a few tantalising possibilities. Rey is seen fending off three assailants with her lightsaber, feeding speculation her nascent Jedi will go head-to-head with the Knights Of Ren, glimpsed briefly during her vision sequence in The Force
Awakens. What’s more, we see Driver battling two similar opponents. Will he, too, fall foul of his former crew? Could Ren and Rey team up?
2. Finn returns to the First Order
John Boyega’s Finn started out as a faceless stormtrooper, but he lands a promotion in The
Last Jedi. In a fleeting scene, we see both Finn and Kelly Marie Tran’s Rose Tico in First Order officer get-up as they go undercover behind enemy lines.
3. Luke Skywalker befriends Space Penguins
Thought BB-8 was the most adorable thing in the galaxy? Think again. Huggable avians the Porgs are set to be Episode VIII’S answer to Ewoks. In other star-fauna news, we meet a crystalline space fox and a big-eared steed we hear is ridden for sport in Star Wars’ equivalent of the Grand National.
4. Phasma gets an entourage
Everyone’s favourite chrome-plated Captain acquires some help in the form of the upgraded stormtroopers, glimpsed in their new, piebald ‘Executioner’ armour. Each comes equipped with a nasty-looking, spiked grabber. The Resistance, meanwhile, has gone full retro for their new hardware, dusting off some 1983-era A-wings, last modelled at the Battle Of Endor.
5. Laura Dern Will Shake Things Up
The most striking new addition is Laura Dern’s Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo, with her Katy Perry-style violet rinse and sleek couture. Holdo is said to be a divisive character within the Resistance who could butt heads with Oscar Isaac’s Poe Dameron. She’ll see her fair share of action, too, although not a combat pro quite yet. “Every time I fired my blaster on camera, I kept saying, ‘Pew, pew,’” confessed Dern. “I just couldn’t help it!”