Star Wars: The Last Jedi Won't Reveal Snoke's Backstory

The Star Wars series' newest shadowy villain will remain in the shadows for now, according to an article on the saga's upcoming next installment in Empire. 

First seen in 2015's The Force Awakens, Supreme Leader Snoke (played by Andy Serkis) was introduced to audiences as the mysterious villain pulling the strings of the evil First Order, and a mentor to dark side fanboy Kylo Ren. Other than the menace he conveyed and the power he possessed, not much was revealed about the character or his motivations. According to Rian Johnson, the director of the next Star Wars movie, fans who hoped The Last Jedi  would delve into the origin story of the secretive warlord should brace for disappointment.

"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'" said Johnson. "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."

In constructing The Last Jedi, Johnson found a much more interesting story to be told through the dynamic of Jedi-in-training Rey and her nemesis, Kylo Ren. "He's not Vader—at least, he's not Vader yet—and that's something I really wanted to get into."

"Star Wars boils down to the transition from adolescence into adulthood," Johnson explained, regarding his reasoning to keep the movie focused on its two most human characters. "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."

Star Wars: The Last Jedi arrives in theaters on December 15, and you can watch the trailer right here. But first, check out our feature on some other obscure Star Wars backstories you don't know.