New details have been revealed about Supreme Leader Snoke’s elite Praetorian guards in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. With The Last Jedi set to hit theaters in December, fans are eagerly waiting as new details spill from the woodwork about the film's storylines and characters, as well as the creatures and planets that will be featured in the movie (among other things). As interesting as the heroes of Star Wars are, those wielding the dark side of The Force are perhaps just as intriguing. That's certainly the case with the mysterious Snoke (played by Andy Serkis), aka. the puppet master behind the First Order and Kylo Ren. So far, we know that Snoke is humanoid alien who has served as Supreme Leader of the First Order for many a year, leading up to the events of Episode VII - The Force Awakens. Previously-released promotional images of Smoke from The Last Jedi have offered a closer look at the character in the flesh, revealing the length of his disfigurement and gold robes. We also now know that he possesses force abilities, thanks to the helpfully-titled book Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need To Know. 

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One aspect of Snoke we haven’t learn about yet are his looming and imposing guards, which have been heavily featured in promotions for The Last Jedi. The Praetorian are clad in red armor and robes welding staff-like weapons, are named after the guards actual Roman emperors would use, and are strikingly similar to Emperor Palpatine’s Royal Guard in Return of the Jedi. Details about these guards were revealed at NYCC at the Star Wars: The Last Jedi booth, which replicated a Starkiller Base control room. You can take a closer look at those details below (h/t to SWNN):

According to the information panels, the eight Praetorian guards are Snoke’s personal guard force and wield single or double-blade swords that have “electro-plasma energy filament running along the blade’s edge.” We also learn here that the guards “were capable of adjusting fighting style mid-combat by spitting the two ends of their weapon to be dagger-like single blades.” This, in turn, makes the Praetorian “fearsomely unpredictable” in battle. While these panels doesn’t reveal any details about what the Praetorian are going to be doing in The Last Jedi, it's quite clear that they are fearsome soldiers and should make for worthy opponents for the heroes of the new Star Wars trilogy. As much as everyone loves stormtroopers, they’ve become infamously known for their clumsiness in battle, so it would be a good change of pace for the franchise to feature some bad guys who are actually menacing and pose a legitimate threat to the Resistance.

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Source: SWNN