"Star Wars: The Last Jedi" will hit theaters later this year, and, with several months still to go, there’s plenty of time for Disney and Lucasfilm to engage in some heavy promotion and hype for the ominously anticipated “Episode VIII: The Last Jedi.”
Movie trailers are good and all, but there are many other ways to build some dedicated interest for the film. So, Vanity Fair has jumped on the bandwagon by releasing their latest issue with a whopping four variant covers, all featuring the stars of “The Last Jedi” in some marvelous teases related to what they’ll be doing in the film itself.
Twin commemoration
For their Summer 2017 issue, Vanity Fair is pulling a double in celebrating both the “Last Jedi” film and the 40th anniversary of the “Star Wars” franchise as a whole. In a brilliant spark of continuity, the photographer of the four variant covers is Annie Leibovitz, the go-to shutterbug for Vanity Fair wherever “Star Wars” is involved -- from “Episode I: The Phantom Menace” in 1999 to “Episode VII: The Force Awakens” in 2015.
The “Last Jedi” actors and actresses, in full costume, are grouped in the Vanity Fair cover photos in specific combinations. They are roughly divided into Jedi, Resistance, First Order, and special solo variant covers. The Jedi variant, of course, features the lead stars playing the central characters in this installment of the "Star Wars" saga, namely Mark Hamill and Daisy Ridley as the hermit Jedi Master Luke Skywalker and the powerful Force adept Rey, respectively.
Next, there is the Resistance variant showing the “normal” heroes. Kelly Marie Tran joins John Boyega as the rebel Storm Trooper Finn, Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron, the droid BB-8, and Resistance mechanic Rose.
Glorious remembrance
Gracing the First Order cover variant are the prominent antagonists Kylo Ren, General Hux, and Storm Trooper commander Phasma, as portrayed by Adam Driver, Domhnall Gleeson, and Gwendoline Christie respectively.
Ren is now scarred following the murder of his father Han Solo (Harrison Ford back in “The Force Awakens”) and subsequent battle with Finn and Rey. Captain Phasma is also seen without a helmet for the first time.
Last but not least of the “Star Wars” variants is a cover solo featuring the late Carrie Fisher in full regalia as Resistance general Leia Organa-Solo.
It is fortunate for the fans that she fully completed all her camerawork on “The Last Jedi” before her death in December 2016. There is word, however, that her family has given the go-ahead for Disney and Lucasfilm to use unused and archived footage of her in order for her to reprise her role for Episode IX in the future.
