Closer look at the 'Knights of Ren' as new 'Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker' artwork is revealed

A huge raft of new Star Wars artwork has been unveiled ahead of the release of the ninth movie, The Rise of Skywalker, and the Star Wars merch bonanza known as Force Friday, happening this year on October 4.

And it's giving us our closest look yet at the Knights of Ren, Kylo Ren's new posse of masked hard nuts.

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And while Kylo himself has come in for a fair bit of mockery over the series for being a bit of a spoiled brat, with a penchant for messing up his bedroom when things don't go his way, this grumpy lot look like they mean business.

According to Star Wars lore, they are a group of elite warriors now under the command of Kylo, aka Ben Solo, who, as the man who has the ear of Supreme Leader Snoke and is the grandson of Darth Vader, has some decent connections and lineage.

The artwork comes courtesy of poster and calendar merchants Trends International, who tweeted out their new wares over the weekend.

There are also new posters of Daisy Ridley's Rey, and some collecting other characters together in collage form.

However, there are some rumblings in the Rebel Alliance.

While most principle characters get a spot, Kellie Marie Tran's Rose Tico, who got a fair whack of screen time in The Last Jedi and has now apparently risen to the rank of Commander, is notable by her absence.

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Many have pointed out that she's missing, but new alien creature Klaud, first seen at the Star Wars Celebration panel, gets a look in instead, which does seem pretty unfair.

There are also a couple of new posters to check out from The Mandalorian, the new bounty hunter series from Jon Favreau due to land on Disney's new streaming platform Disney+ on November 12.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, meanwhile, arrives at UK cinemas on December 19.