The ex-stormtrooper was not a pilot in The Force Awakens, but he picks up new skills in The Last Jedi. This morning, look for new photos in EW’s feature on his covert mission with a new character: Kelly Marie Tran’s Resistance mechanic Rose Tico.

Writer-director Rian Johnson says one theme of The Last Jedi is the peril of meeting your heroes. In Part 1 of EW’s cover story, we dive into the meeting between Luke Skywalker and Rey — and their unexpected clash.

Oh thank you! Wednesday became quite a glorious day early as Entertainment Weekly exploded the web-verse as they dropped the new cover and spread topic of their latest issue, Star Wars: The Last Jedi. We’re now just five months away from quite possibly the biggest sequel to ever be released, and naturally, that means fascinating new goodies with EW’s upcoming Fall Preview issue.

The new images give a wide range of looks at some of the most exciting aspects of Rian Johnson’s film. Many eyes will be glued right away to something like Kylo Ren’s TIE Fighter, which is being called the TIE Silencer and is designed after the much more sleek fighter piloted by Ren’s grandfather, Darth Vader. I love this new addition to the character. He’s Vader’s biggest fanboy so it just makes sense. Plus, it just looks badass, which leaves me wanting to see its tricks even more.

Among the stills of characters like Rey, Ren, Finn and Poe, we also get a better look at the highly talked abut Casino of Canto Bight and a duo of new creatures, the caretakers of Ahch-To and the Porgs, the famous force beings. As for Canto Bight, it looks nothing like the prequel famous Courescant, which is something I couldn’t be happier about. Bight is an extremely interesting part of this film. Just how much will it factor in? Or is it just a pit stop a la a famous city in a Bond film?

Take a long hard look at all the images below, as well as the descriptions I added to them, which come directly from the cover article EW did earlier today. Which images are your favorite? What are you looking forward to the most? What do you hope to see next? Johnson’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi hits a theater near you on December 15th.

As Rey already knows, you have to search for a bit to find Luke Skywalker. We’ve got new details and images from their encounter in The Last Jedi to launch our cover story rollout …

The Last Jedi will bring us face-to-what’s-left-of-his-face with Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis,) who stands as Kylo Ren’s master and manipulator from the dark side of the Force.

The TIE Silencer is a new ship, modeled on Darth Vader’s TIE Advanced X1 from the original 1977 Star Wars and the TIE Interceptors from Return of the Jedi. This image features the ship in battle, flanked by the more expendable TIE Fighters.

Finn and Rose’s mission takes them to this glamorous galactic getaway — a city of light and games, where fortunes are won and lost. We’ll have more information today about the spike-winged little ships on the landing pad.

Tomorrow, EW has a story about the bond between the Resistance’s best fighter pilot and Carrie Fisher’s General Leia Organa.

The Last Jedi will mark a farewell to the actress, who died unexpectedly in December. Tomorrow’s story will shed new light on what we can expect to see in this last film featuring the princess who became a general.

Producer Ram Bergman, who worked with writer-director Rian Johnson on all of his films, including Brick and Looper, in discussion with Lucasfilm president and The Last Jedi producer Kathleen Kennedy.

These puffin-like creatures from the island of the first Jedi temple are cute, cuddly, and vexing to Wookiees.

These amphibious creatures are what writer-director Rian Johnson describes as alien nuns — a religious order, faithful to the Force, who tend to the ancient Jedi structures on Ahch-To.

Modeled on the Emperor’s ceremonial watchmen from Return of the Jedi, these crimson-armored bodyguards are more like samurai.

The hero theme of The Last Jedi is also a part of the Finn storyline, with John Boyega’s ex-stormtrooper seriously considering becoming an ex-good-guy, too. But in Part 2 of EW’s cover story, we explore how Kelly Marie Tran’s Rose Tico, a Resistance mechanic, helps pull him back from the brink.