With Star Wars: The Force Awakens a little over a month away, Disney and Lucas film have kicked the hype train into full gear by unveiling five new posters featuring each of the film's main characters.

Daisy Ridley's Rey, John Boyega's Finn, and Adam Driver's masked villain Kylo Ren are the three new characters to receive the poster treatment, while Harrison Ford's Han Solo and Carrie Fisher's Princess Leia represent the original trilogy.

Each of the images share the same design layout: a close-up shot of the character's face obscured by their signature weapon.

For Finn and Kylo Ren that means the lightsabers we've seen them wielding in the trailer are in full view. Rey's staff is of course her armament of choice while Han Solo is seen brandishing his trademark blaster. Leia is the only character to not be pictured holding a weapon, her face instead covered by a hologram that resembles some sort of tactical map.

IGN's analysis of the posters speculates that this means Leia may play a more strategic, command-centric role in the film's plot. In the original trilogy Leia was often in the thick of the action, joining Rebel troops on the ground during the Battle of Endor in Return of The Jedi. Given the character's age and importance to the resistance, its pretty easy to believe that she's retired from fighting.

Once again, the question on everyone's mind is: Where's Luke Skywalker? Mark Hammill's iconic character was suspiciously absent from all of the film's trailers, and his omission from this series of images will no doubt fuel fan speculation regarding his role in the film even further.

To his fate we'll have to wait until December 18.