Star Wars: The Last Jedi: Vanity Fair pays homage to late Carrie Fisher in special edition covers

Vanity Fair has unveiled its covers for an upcoming Star Wars: The Last Jedi special edition of the magazine taken by the magazine's usual collaborator Annie Leibowitz.

The photographer has been providing the publication with the images for their Star Wars covers ever since 1999's release of The Phantom Menace and is a dab hand at capturing celebrities in a stellar light.

The artwork splits the characters into three distinct camps; The Force cover stars lightsaber-wielding heroes Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), The Resistance depicts Finn (John Boyega), Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) and newbie Rose (Kelly Marie Tran) while The Dark Side has First Order officials Captain Phasma (Gwendoline Christie), General Hux (Domhnall Gleeson) and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) take centre stage.

Additionally, the late Carrie Fisher is seen on her own special edition cover, which is titled The Legacy. While the 60-year-old passed away on 27 December after suffering a heart attack four days earlier, she had completed her work on the upcoming sci-fi sequel and will reprise her iconic role as Leia Organa for the last time.

Understandably, the covers don't give anything away in terms of plot. Regardless, it is sure to be a treat to hardcore fans of the franchise to receive any kind of new look at the eagerly-anticipated follow-up.

There has only been one teaser released for the film so far, which is relatively unusual for a blockbuster considering it will be released in less than seven months. As expected, the trailer was dropped during Star Wars Celebration event in Orlando, Florida in April. The footage's most interesting takeaways included Rey thrashing a blue lightsaber à-la-Luke around, the return of Kylo Ren and that ominous declaration from Skywalker: "It's time for the Jedi to end."

Directed by Rian Johnson, Star Wars: The Last Jedi is currently slated to reach both US and UK cinemas on 15 December 2017.