We all know who Snoke is by now – Supreme Leader of the First Order and all-round shrivelled gasbag – but we don’t know much about him going into Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Thankfully his actor, magnificent mo-cap man Andy Serkis, has been talking all about his role – and has revealed more than ever before about Star Wars’ most mysterious figure…
Speaking to EW, Serkis (and director Rian Johnson) opened up about what we can possibly expect from Snoke, and what his motivations are. Here are 5 things we learned.
Snoke's hatred for the Resistance comes from an as-yet-unrevealed injury
We could already tell Snoke was a bit of a misery guts in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. But why? The Last Jedi may not spill the beans entirely, but Serkis lets slip that the Resistance has made him that way. “He has suffered and he has suffered injury,” Serkis says, “The way that his malevolence comes out is in reaction to that. His hatred of the Resistance is fueled by what’s happened to him personally.”
Snoke's WW1 inspiration (and why Andy Serkis used tape to play him)
Snoke’s injury may have happened in a galaxy far, far away – but its inspiration is grounded in our reality. Serkis mentions “His deformity is very much based on injuries from the First World War, from the trenches” and, to reflect that injury, Serkis required tape covering the left side of his jaw.
Why Snoke isn't happy with Kylo Ren
You get the impression that Snoke has a grand master plan that he hasn’t revealed yet. However, things aren’t that straightforward for the Supreme Leader. That’s why he’s decided to put General Hux and Kylo Ren in opposition against each other, as Serkis says, “His training of Kylo Ren is not yielding what he wants. Therefore, his anger towards Kylo Ren is intensified because he can’t bear weakness in others. Part of the manipulation is goading him with Hux and playing them off against each other.”
There’s even a brand-new shot of Snoke in giant hologram form (channelling his inner Zordon) looking particularly displeased with General Hux…
Snoke has unlimited resources at his disposal
Don’t take it from me. Serkis unveils the fact that “we will discover that the First Order has limitless resources in [The Last Jedi]”. Now, that’s a scary thought…
The Last Jedi won't reveal *everything* about Snoke (but we will see much more of him)
Sorry, folks. Don’t go expecting a massive plot dump where Snoke explains where he comes from, why he’s here and then tying it all into the bunch of fan theories floating around the web. As Johnson explains, “We’ll learn exactly as much about Snoke as we need to. But the really exciting thing for me is we will see more of him, and Andy Serkis will get to do much more in this film than he did in the last one, and that guy is just a force of nature.”
For more, less Snoke-y Star Wars content, check out The Last Jedi's official runtime.
Image: Lucasfilm
