Andy Serkis Reveals How Snoke Evolved From Star Wars: The Force Awakens To The Last Jedi: “We Were Really Making It Up”

Nearly ten years after the debut of the Star Wars sequel trilogy with Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Supreme Leader Snoke actor Andy Serkis has revealed more about the evolution of his mysterious villain. Snoke was one of many brand-new characters in the Star Wars sequel trilogy’s cast, and his unknown origins made him the center of perhaps some of the most fascinating yet hilarious theories the Star Wars fandom has ever seen. These theories surrounding Snoke became infamous, especially once Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker revealed that Snoke was nothing more than a strandcast clone of Palpatine.

Speaking exclusively to Screen Rant, however, Serkis revealed more about how Snoke’s character came to be over time, and how much agency he had in bringing elements of Snoke to life. “We were really making it up,” Serkis confessed. “But one of the decisions that I did make was that I wanted him to feel like he had suffered some psychological damage, and he had suffered some physical damage – obviously, his scar and his skull being crushed – and he was like a clone gone wrong.“

This psychological depth for Serkis had everything to do with Snoke’s sense of self-esteem. “He almost felt that, in order to hold onto his power,“ Serkis explained, “he had to put himself out there in a stronger and more malevolent way just to cover up the fact that he felt inadequate.” Of course, even as Serkis portrayed these complicated feelings, not everything about Snoke and his origin had been decided yet. “But in all honesty, there was a mystery around it, and it was crazy,” Serkis revealed. “It was still being evolved as we were making it.”

Snoke Was Yet Another Unplanned Entity In The Star Wars Sequels

No One Really Understood His Mystery

What this means for Star Wars is that Snoke was just another element in the sequel trilogy that was more fluid than many may have realized. Snoke wasn’t a character that Star Wars had even fully fleshed out yet when audiences were creating their intense Snoke theories. According to Serkis, Snoke was a mystery for most of the time that the actor portrayed him. Given how many other characters and elements of the sequel trilogy were also fairly unplanned during the course of its creation and release, this isn’t too surprising to hear, but it is fascinating all the same.

Our Take On The Fluid Nature Of Snoke’s Evolution

It Had An Advantage – & Several Disadvantages

This fluidity works for Snoke mainly because of Serkis’ portrayal, and the thought he put behind the character even without knowing much about him – but it’s also a somewhat dangerous sign of why some things went wrong in the sequel trilogy. Snoke is meant to be the Palpatine-esque villain of both The Force Awakens and Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and yet his characters’ origins were still largely a mystery, even to the actor who was portraying him. While this did give Serkis a unique amount of freedom, it also had some bad implications.

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While not everything in Star Wars has to have deep lore connections, a figure as important as Snoke really should. It sounds as if Snoke’s Palpatine connection wasn’t even established until after Snoke had died in The Last Jedi, even if it was something that was discussed. Palpatine’s return has long since been a point of contention for Star Wars fans, particularly because it wasn’t strongly hinted at in the first two movies of the trilogy. Perhaps if Snoke had been given a more firmly established backstory in Star Wars early on, then Palpatine’s return may have felt more natural.

Star Wars

Star Wars is a multimedia franchise that started in 1977 by creator George Lucas. After the release of Star Wars: Episode IV- A New Hope (originally just titled Star Wars), the franchise quickly exploded, spawning multiple sequels, prequels, TV shows, video games, comics, and much more. After Disney acquired the rights to the franchise, they quickly expanded the universe on Disney+, starting with The Mandalorian.

Cast

Mark Hamill , James Earl Jones , David Prowse , Carrie Fisher , Harrison Ford , Daisy Ridley , Adam Driver , Ian McDiarmid , Ewan McGregor , Rosario Dawson , Lars Mikkelsen , Rupert Friend , Moses Ingram , Frank Oz , Pedro Pascal

TV Show(s)

The Mandalorian , Andor , Obi-Wan Kenobi , The Book of Boba Fett , Ahsoka , The Acolyte , Star Wars: Skeleton Crew , Lando , Star Wars: The Clone Wars , Star Wars Rebels , Star Wars: The Bad Batch , Star Wars: Resistance , Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures , Star Wars: Visions

Character(s)

Luke Skywalker , Han Solo , Rey Skywalker , Emperor Palpatine / Darth Sidious , Obi-Wan Kenobi , Ahsoka Tano , Grand Admiral Thrawn , Grand Inquisitor , Reva (The Third Sister) , The Fifth Brother , The Seventh Sister , The Eighth Brother , Yoda , Din Djarin , Grogu , Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader , Leia Organa , Ben Solo/Kylo Ren

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