Star Wars: The Last Jedi: What Can We Read from the Poster?

It may have been a bit lost in the shuffle after Star Wars: The Last Jedi dropped a two-minute trailer, but what clues might the poster contain?

Has anyone actually recovered from the information dump that Star Wars Celebration Orlando had today at its panel for The Last Jedi? Even sitting through the entire panel just to get to the trailer that we all knew was coming was pretty delightful, all told. Not only did we get to hear actors John Boyega, Kelly Marie Tran, Daisy Ridley, and Mark Hamill talk around their roles in the new movie, we also got a look at the first teaser poster for the movie.

(And then we got a trailer. Twice, in fact.)

Here’s the trailer in all its glory:

For comparison, here’s the theatrical poster everyone recognizes from The Force Awakens. Obviously, there are a couple of things to start with. First, this one is far less visually busy, only showing two (and perhaps three, depending on which Rey’s parents theory you subscribe to at the moment) Skywalkers and not basically everyone but Luke Skywalker. In fact, he visually dominates the top half of the image. His head is even bigger than Kylo Ren’s.

But below, it’s all Rey, standing, holding her lightsaber aloft in what almost feels like a nod to one of the original posters from A New Hope /Star Wars, just without Poe Dameron and Finn posing at her feet. Also, she doesn’t need two hands, because she’s Rey.

One Twitter user noticed a shared symbol between the poster and the trailer that followed it:

Here’s the really part. That’s the symbol of the old Jedi Order, as you can see on sources like Wookieepedia and even in books like Dressing a Galaxy. By the fact that whatever in the trailer is smooth and shiny, it might be a stone of some sort detailing the ancient Jedi Order’s exploits, or it may even be a stone box.

Back to the poster, though, which is obviously very, very red. It even bleeds into Rey’s lightsaber. That may suggest that she struggles with staying on the light side of the Force. After all, she’s right between the two who most clearly represent those two sides in this new trilogy. Both of them loom over her. Though Luke may be bigger now, the fact that we see Kylo at all is more than a touch concerning.

Speaking of Kylo, does anyone else also read the shape of his distinctive lightsaber in the light from Rey’s? It may look like the Jedi Order symbol at first glance. However, that second reading may end up just as relevant to the story.

Next: 7 Questions for The Last Jedi After the Trailer

What do you see in this poster? Let us know in the comments below.