As a movie that subverted our expectations at every turn, it’s difficult to pinpoint the single most surprising moment of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. One that’s definitely up there, though, is the shocking death of Supreme Leader Snoke. After his brief appearance in The Force Awakens set him up as the all-powerful chief of the First Order, fans were primed to expect the character to stick around for the whole trilogy a la his obvious inspiration, the Emperor.
Things looked pretty final for Snoke, however, when he was chopped in half by his treacherous apprentice Kylo Ren, leaving him to step up as the new Supreme Leader. But could the big, bald bad guy return in Episode IX? Andy Serkis – who portrays the villain via motion capture – wouldn’t give anything away to The Hollywood Reporter, but he did reveal that he’d be “very happy” to come back.
“It’s a great character, and I’d be keen. I know it frustrated a lot of people that Snoke came to such a sticky end so quickly, but I loved that big scene and the relationship between Daisy Ridley’s character and Snoke — and where it goes from there and what escalates from that moment, you know the fight that kicks off after that. So I really think it’s great in the movie, but yeah, I could quite happily — I’d be very happy to extend Snoke’s life for sure.”
While it seems unlikely that Snoke could have possible survived Ren’s attack, we wouldn’t bet against him appearing in Episode IX in some form, most likely via flashback. The Last Jedi‘s Rian Johnson deliberately avoided exploring Snoke’s backstory for one, so J.J. Abrams – who first introduced the character in TFA – could feel the need to fill in this mystery. Even if TLJ‘s novelization already helps paper over the gaps somewhat.
Last time Serkis was drawn on the chances of Snoke returning to the franchise, he cryptically stated that anything can happen in the world of Star Wars, so who knows? But does the actor actually know anything about his character’s future, or is he just as in the dark as the rest of us?
Time will tell, but with Star Wars: Episode IX not hitting theaters until December 20th, 2019, we’ve got a long ways to go before we find out.
