Star Wars: The Force Awakens was thought of by many to be a series retread of Star Wars: A New Hope. Even if you feel that way, it is hard not to acknowledge that the movie introduced some pretty cool concepts into the universe. For one, the Knights of Ren, a group who has scarcely seconds of screen time, is something that fascinates Star Wars fans. And for good reason. Now, a new piece of concept art of the Knights of Ren has made its way online.

The piece comes from the fan site Star Wars News Net and they have had the art since during the production of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. They just never released it in order to be respectful. But since an official piece of concept art was recently released by Lucasfilm in The Art of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, they decided now was a good time to show it off. Here's the story behind it.

"During the production of The Force Awakens, a couple pieces of leaked concept art came to be in our possession, but we decided not to share the images at the time out of respect for Lucasfilm. One of the two images eventually found its way into The Art of Star Wars: The Force Awakens book, but the other has still never seen the light of day. We contacted our artist friend Venamis, who did a sketch recreation of the other piece for us."

So what you're seeing is not actually the piece of art. It is a sketch of the piece of art featuring the early concept of the Knights of Ren, but it still gives you an idea of how radically different the group could have looked. In case you need a refresher, the Knights of Ren showed up briefly in Rey's Force dream in Star Wars: The Force Awakens and were recruited by Kylo Ren to wipe out Luke's new generation of Jedi that he was training. Very dark, but very cool.

Many have wondered how much, if any screen time the group is going to get in Star Wars: The Last Jedi and it seems like they could be featured somewhat prominently. And not in a dream this time. In the recently released Star Wars 8 behind-the-scenes reel from D23, there is a shot of Daisy Ridley being attacked by three people, probably wielding lightsabers. Since they were only sticks in the video, it's tough to say. But it seems likely and it has been theorized that these are several members of the Knights of Ren.

We'll have to wait until December 15 to see if that holds true in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. We can only hope. Who knows? Maybe Lucasfilm will make that Knights of Ren movie J.J. Abrams talked about? But probably not. Be sure to check out the concept art for yourself below.