Andy Serkis Opens Up About Supreme Leader Snoke and Says He's Driven By Pain and Greed

One of the characters that I'm looking forward to learning more about in Star Wars: The Last Jedi is the big bad villains, Supreme Leader Snoke. I know we won't get all the answers we want in this next movie, but we are definitely going to get get to see his story arc start to take shape! 

During a recent interview with EW, Andy Serkis opened up a bit more about the character he plays and reveals more about his origin and creation. 

“This time you get to see him, as in his real presence. In the previous movie we saw him as this huge hologram and tele-presence, and you get to meet him in the flesh this time.”

Now I'm going to throw this up just in case:

Serkis describes the character as "a cruel master", and says he's "a 9-foot-tall alien humanoid who disparages and dominates his two lieutenants: Kylo Ren (played by Adam Driver) and General Hux (Domhnall Gleeson.) He’s a predator who identifies weakness and exploits it, drawing the young and promising to his side with promises of power, then using and discarding his protégés when they are no longer of use."

He goes on to talk about his strained relationship with Kylo Ren saying:

“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.”

I imagine that's one of the main reasons why Snoke is so keen on bringing Rey over to the Dark Side. I've seen a lot of conversations and debates online about Snoke and how some people aren't quite sure if he is an actual wielder of The Force or if he just has a great knowledge of it. Well, it turns out that he is strong with The Force! Serkis reveals: 

“The thing about Snoke is that he is extremely strong with the Force, the dark side of the Force. He’s terribly powerful, of course. But he is also a very vulnerable and wounded character. He has suffered and he has suffered injury. 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.”

I really hope that we get to see Snoke's history revealed at some point. I imagine that there's got to be some big reveal of who this villain really is. We won't find out how Snoke suffered in The Last Jedi, though. However, it is revealed:

“You witness his physicality. His body is kind of twisted up like a corkscrew, and so he has limited movement. His aggression and his anger is contained and restricted by that physicality.”

Serkis goes on to talk how Snoke likes to indulge in the comfort and riches that his power has bestowed on him. He is also very much driven by greed.

“Oh, absolutely. He’s slightly oligarch. You know, he’s not afraid of showing his fineries. There is a luxury that’s native to him.”

It then explained that we can see it in his throne room, and his scarlet-armored Praetorian Guard, which have been teased in the trailers for the film.

“The way that his court is presented, he’s very totalitarian in that way and flamboyant. He enjoys that theatricality, I think.”

When talking about the mystery surrounding Snoke's past, director Rian Johnson Says:

“Similar to with Rey’s parentage, Snoke is here to serve a function in the story. And, you know, a story is not a Wikipedia page.

“For example, in the original trilogy, we didn’t know anything about the Emperor except exactly what we needed to know, which is what Luke knew about him, that he’s the evil guy behind Vader. But then in the prequels, you knew everything about Palpatine because that his rise to power was the story. We’ll learn exactly as much about Snoke as we need to. But the really exciting 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.”

I can understand their approach to utilizing Snoke, but I would still eventually like to know what his past entails and what transformed him into the villainous being that he has become.