Star Wars: The Last Jedi director teases Snoke’s role

Kylo Ren may be everyone’s favorite emo super villain, but Supreme Leader Snoke is the dark side’s most intriguing figure.

[Warning: The following contains spoilers for Star Wars: The Last Jedi.]

Unlike Kylo Ren, Supreme Leader Snoke will exist as a threatening shadow, hovering over the First Order. Director Rian Johnson told Empire Magazine that much like Emperor Palpatine in the original trilogy, Snoke’s history won’t be explored in The Last Jedi. It’s much more frightening and impactful, Johnson said, if we don’t know everything about the character going in.

“He's a dark force: the scary thing behind the thing,” Johnson said. “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.”

That’s not all bad news for Snoke fans, though. The Last Jedi will mark the first time that we’ve seen more than just a holographic projection of the Supreme Leader. We’ll also see more of his Mega Star Destroyer, The Supremacy, and based on photos of toy sets released last week, may even get a good look at his commanding office. Snoke will become a much more tangible character in The Last Jedi, but he’ll remain shrouded in mystery.

The same can’t be said for Kylo Ren, however, who Johnson said audiences will learn more about.

“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,” Johnson said. “He’s not Vader — at least, he’s not Vader yet — and that’s something I really wanted to get into.”

Star Wars: The Last Jedi will be released on Dec. 15.