Here’s The First Official Look At Snoke’s Praetorian Guards In The Last Jedi

There was a lot of talk about the appearance of Supreme Leader Snoke's Praetorian Guard in Star Wars: The Last Jedi and while there have been a few leaked photos and sketches of sequel trilogy's version of the Imperial Royal Guard, the first official photo just came out yesterday.

Entertainment Weekly has recently released a new batch of photos from The Last Jedi and in it we not only get to see the film's main characters in action, we also get our first official look at Snoke's Praetorian Guards.

Unlike Emperor Palpatine's Imperial Royal Guard which wore long flowing robes, the Praetorian Guards have more armor covering their upper body. Speaking with the publication, director Rian Johnson explains how he got the design for the sequel trilogy's new guards.

"The Emperor's guards were very formal, and you always got the sense that they could fight, but they didn't. They looked like they were more ceremonial, and you never really saw them in action. The Praetorians, my brief to [costume designer] Michael Kaplan was that those guys have to be more like samurai. They have to be built to move, and you have to believe that they could step forward and engage if they have to. They have to seem dangerous."

While it still isn't certain whether the Praetorian Guards are going to display their combative skills in The Last Jedi, we're certainly taken in by their fierce samurai design. We really do hope that they do get to have a fight sequence in The Force Awakens sequel.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi premieres December 15, 2017.

Read: Star Wars: The Last Jedi Director Talks About Expanding Jedi Mythology