Rian Johnson Discusses Snoke in THE LAST JEDI and Describes Him as “The Scary Thing Behind The Thing”
Supreme Leader Snoke is one of those new Star Wars characters that is completely shrouded in mystery. I want to know what his deal is! I want to know where he came from and what his purpose serves for the story that is being told in this new Saga.
During a recent interview with Empire, director Rian Johnson talked about Snoke and compared him to Emperor Palpatine. Unfortunately, for those of you like myself that were hoping to get more of a history on the character, That’s not going to happen in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. He explained:
"We got the whole story of Palpatine’s rise to power in the prequels, but in the original films he's exactly what he needs to be, which is just ‘The Emperor’. He's a dark force: the scary thing behind the thing. That was entirely how I approached Snoke. I wasn't interested in explaining where he came from or telling his history, except where it serves this story.”
I get why he’s taking this route, but I would still love to get some background info on the character. Hopefully, they at least reveal who Snoke is and where he came from. They don’t have to spend an insane amount of time on it, but I want answers!
If we don’t get anything in The Last Jedi, hopefully, we get some detailed information in Episode IX. We’ll just have to wait and see. When it comes to the other villain, Kylo Ren, though, Johnson definitely plans on diving into this character and who he is saying:
“Writing Kylo Ren is just so much fun. Star Wars boils down to the transition from adolescence into adulthood. That’s the heart of these films and Rey is most obviously the one that hangs on. But it’s also Kylo. In the originals you project entirely onto Luke, while Vader is the scary other — he’s the minotaur. The fascinating thing about Kylo and Rey is that they’re two sides of something. We can all relate to Kylo: to that anger of being in the turmoil of adolescence and figuring out who he’s going to be as a man; dealing with anger and wanting to separate from his family. He’s not Vader — at least, he’s not Vader yet — and that’s something I really wanted to get into.”
By saying that Kylo Ren isn’t Vader yet, that tells me there may still be hope for him to come out of this utter darkness that he’s found himself trapped in. Maybe there is a way out of the darkness for Kylo Ren. The question is, will he be strong enough to take the necessary steps he needs to take to get out of it? Do you think the character is even redemable after killing his own father?
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is released in UK cinemas on Friday 15 December.