New ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Covers Highlight the Dark Side and the Light

By the time Star Wars: The Force Awakens hits theaters this December, it will have graced the cover of every major magazine in the world. Following cover stories in Vanity Fair and Entertainment Weekly, the highly anticipated sequel to the world’s most popular movie trilogy has landed on the cover of Empire. Heh. Empire. Because, you know, Star Wars. Insert your own joke there. And, like any magazine issue that fancies itself a collector’s item, Empire’s 2015 Winter Preview issue will have two covers — one for the heroes and one for the villains.

The first cover features Rey (Daisy Ridley), Finn (John Boyega), Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), and BB-8 (itself) on the sands of Jakku. The Millennium Falcon is parked nearby and TIE Fighters roar overhead. In the negative space, that Luke Skywalker quote from the second trailer: “The Force is strong in my family. My father has it. I have it. My sister has it. You have that power, too.”

The second cover is set in a Star Destroyer landing bay and is all about Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), General Hux (Domhnall Gleason), Captain Phasma (Gwendoline Christie), and a big line-up of First Order Stormtroopers. This cover has its own quote too, from the first trailer and the still-unseen Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis): “There has been an awakening. Have you felt it? The dark side, and the light.”

The pages under these covers will presumably feature details about the movie itself, along with a bunch of other cool movies. But c’mon. Star Wars. Guys. Star Wars!