The Knights of Ren, first teased in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, will make a full appearance in Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker.

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Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - Official Photos Released 18 IMAGES

As revealed in a new preview from Vanity Fair , the Knights of Ren have arrived on the scene for the final chapter of the Skywalker Saga. While the preview goes into no depth about why they have returned or how they’ll be woven into the plot, a single behind-the-scenes photograph shows director J.J. Abrams and stunt coordinated Eunice Huthart offering instruction to a team of six actors dressed in Knights of Ren costumes.The photo’s caption describes them as “elite fearsome enforcers of Kylo Ren’s dark will”. The photo itself gives us a much better look at the knights than in their rain-soaked flashback from Episode VII; they wield a variety of weapons, including axes, swords, and mauls, and their armour designs appear to pull from many different sources of inspiration; one wears a helmet that looks a little Clone Trooper-like, while another is almost Shogun-style.In the photograph the group are standing in a desert-like environment, which may well be the planet we saw Rey on in the first Episode IX trailer. The article confirms this planet to be Pasaana, a world inhabited by native aliens known as the Aki-Aki.For more on Episode IX, check out our huge breakdown of Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker news, theories, and videos . You can also check out how Lucasfilm has always planned to bring back Palpatine , that there's more coming on Rey's parentage , and how George Lucas helped finish the film

Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. You can follow him on Twitter