Check Out Drew Struzan's Official 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Poster [D23 Expo 2015]
Even though there may not be any new footage from Star Wars: The Force Awakens debuting at D23 this weekend, fans were still given a pretty fantastic treat that is simultaneously something we weren't sure that we would get to see, but also something unsurprising.
The new Star Wars: The Force Awakens poster has been revealed with illustrations from famed poster artist Drew Struzan, the man behind the final theatrical posters for the special edition of the Star Wars trilogy as well as the prequel trilogy, and it's just as gorgeous as we all hoped. Plus, it also gives us a tease of a certain elegant weapon being used by someone we haven't seen wield one yet. Yeah, you know what I'm talking about.
Here's Drew Struzan's poster for Star Wars: The Force Awakens:
The one big reveal is Finn (John Boyega) wielding Luke Skywalker's old blue lightsaber (which belonged to his father Anakin Skywalker before he became Darth Vader), confirming that he'll be using the weapon at some point in the movie. That's not a total surprise since we've seen some images where the weapon is hanging off his character's jacket. However, since it's both Finn and Rey (Daisy Ridley) who come into possession of the weapon, it's a safe bet that they may both end up using it at some point if they find themselves in a tight situation.
Otherwise, there's nothing too revelatory here other than new shots of characters that we've seen before and the fact that this is a new Drew Struzan poster for a new Star Wars trilogy, both things which fans never thought they'd ever get to see again. This is also a D23 exclusive poster handed out at the expo, so if you want to get your hands on it, you'll have to hit eBay.
And since this is a D23 poster, this likely isn't the official theatrical one sheet for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, so maybe there will be another Drew Struzan poster in our future.
Struzan has been essentially retired for years, though he was coaxed out recently to do a poster for the documentary Batkid Begins, and there were rumors that he would return to design a poster for The Force Awakens, but without confirmation. In case you need a reminder, here's all six of the previous posters Struzan designed for Star Wars:
In addition, Struzan has also designed dozens of covers for Star Wars expanded universe books like The Han Solo Trilogy, Shadows of the Empire and many more, not to mention the posters for the Back to the Future trilogy and the Indiana Jones trilogy. Plenty of poster artists have tried to emulate his style, and some succeed rather well, while others use poor Photoshop skills to try to mimic them, but without the artistry that comes with it.