Star Wars: The Last Jedi director reveals new-look Stormtroopers - here's what's changed

In preparation for a Star Wars: The Last Jedi panel at April’s Star Wars Celebration, director Rian Johnson has taken to Tumblr to post a photo of First Order Stormtroopers. So far, so ordinary, right? In fact, Rian Johnson confirmed that the Stormtroopers have received a slight galactic makeover for the sequel and one eagle-eyed fan has even pointed out that one of the Stormtroopers looks like a certain Tom Hardy - who has tried his best, bless him, to deny that he’s appearing in the Star Wars sequel.

Making Star Wars reported on the new-look Stormtroopers, but just how different are they compared to their original trilogy and even Star Wars: The Force Awakens counterparts? Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty of Stormtrooper design:

The ‘mouth’ of the helmet seems to have gotten tweaked, with the thinner lines now making the Stormtroopers look even grumpier than usual. Coupled with the circular blob just under each eye looking slightly larger, Rian Johnson has created Stormtroopers that are equal parts cool and menacing. 

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Those chest plates look sturdier too - probably to compensate for those now smaller codpieces (write your own jokes about that one). Now, let’s just hope they’ve had some shooting practice this time around.

You didn’t think I’d forgotten about Tom Hardy, did you? One dedicated Twitter user has even gone all ‘COMPUTER, ENHANCE’ on the photo (which you can see below) and picked out a startling resemblance to Tom Hardy’s chiselled features. Squint and he looks like an annoyingly-handsome guy so it could be Tom Hardy.

Directed by Rian Johnson and starring Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Laura Dern, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Gwendoline Christie, and Benicio del Toro, Star Wars: The Last Jedi opens in cinemas on December 15, 2017. 

Images: Lucasfilm/Rian Johnson