There has been an awakening. Have you felt it?

It's May 4, as in "May the Fourth Be With You," the pun-inspired Star Wars celebration day that's sweeping through the pop culture universe as fans gear up for the release of the seventh film in the series later this year.

Director J.J. Abrams and company have been teasing the upcoming blockbuster movie "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" for several months, releasing two trailers and other tidbits of information to whet people's appetites for the film. On Monday they offered another tantalizing glimpse of that galaxy far, far away in a handful of photos from the movie set.

The photos by Vanity Fair's Annie Leibowitz shed new light on Academy Award-winning actress Lupita Nyong'o's role in the film, while also revealing the face behind the masked, lightsaber-wielding villain, Kylo Ren.

Nyong'o is shown with her face covered in dots of white light for the motion-tracking process needed to create CGI characters on film. A caption on the photo says Nyong'o will play a pirate named Maz Kanata. However, her CGI character's look remains a mystery. Considering her character’s surname, perhaps she'll be an alien shaped like a Canadian maple leaf?

Fans already got a good look at the black-robed, chrome-masked Kylo Ren in the second "Force Awakens" teaser trailer, but Leibowitz's photos offer a first look at the man behind the mask, actor Adam Driver. Driver is shown in a photo leading two stormtroopers in winter gear across a snowy wasteland. The winter stormtroopers look similar to those in "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back," but with updated armour.

Other photos include a shot of Abrams talking to actress Daisy Ridley on a speeder bike, an image of Oscar Isaac posing next to an X-wing fighter as Poe Dameron, and a group shot of several costumed aliens and robots. Another photo used on the cover of Vanity Fair shows Ridley with fellow newcomer John Boyega, along with Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) and Han Solo (Harrison Ford) in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon.

The photos are just part of a sweeping celebration this Monday, as fans pay tribute to Star Wars around the world.

Stormtroopers even managed to "invade" the CTV newsroom on Monday morning, standing guard over Canada AM during their broadcast.

 

"Everything under control. Situation normal." #starwarsday #maythefourth

A photo posted by CTVCanadaAM (@ctvcanadaam) on

Star Wars fans were out in full force on Twitter too, taking advantage of the social media tool's automatic Star Wars emojis. Tweets using the hashtags #StarWarsDay, #Stormtroopers or #MayThe4thBeWithYou automatically included a small stormtrooper helmet beside the hashtag. Tweets using #StarWars and #MayTheFourth included a C-3PO emoji.

Chewbacca actor Peter Mayhew tweeted a photo of himself with original cast members Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia) and Anthony Daniels (C-3PO). Other stars from the films also marked the occasion.

Comic book writer Scott Snyder offered up his own twist on the day, tweeting a photo of character mashups between "Batman: The Animated Series" and the classic "Star Wars" trilogy.

Many businesses got in on the fun, from Tim Hortons to McDonald's to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Several Canadian politicians were also feeling the Force. NDP leader Thomas Mulcair shared an image of himself Photoshopped as a Jedi, while Toronto city councillor Norm Kelly tweeted an image of a stormtrooper fishing.

When the clock struck noon in Ottawa, the Peace Tower carillon on Parliament Hill played a somewhat garbled version of the "Imperial March" theme.