There are popular film franchises, and then there's the Star Wars movies. Generations grew up on the galaxy far, far away (which is streaming with a Disney+ subscription), including the sequel trilogy. A lot changed throughout those three titles, including the role of Andy Serkis' Supreme Leader Snoke. And the actor/director recently got real about the "massive challenge" of bringing that character to life on the big screen.
When The Force Awakens hit theaters in 2015, it looked like Snoke was being set up as the trilogy's larger villain. That's why it was a huge twist when he was killed off in The Last Jedi, eventually making way for Palpatine's return in The Rise of Skywalker. During an appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Serkis was asked if he expected Snoke to be the "big Bad" of the entire sequel trilogy. He responded with:
I don’t really know. Snoke is the one character that was a massive challenge. Because he was sort of evolving in terms of writing as we were going along. From that into the second. So it was still unclear, I think, where he was at. What he actually represented in that first film. It took a while to really get into the headspace of that character. And actually it wasn’t until the second film that he was. And then by then it was just a little too late.
That certainly sounds like a difficult way to craft a character. While Snoke appeared briefly as a hologram in The Force Awakens, it sounds like Andy Serkis found it difficult to craft his version of the villain. This is mostly because the writing was ongoing as he filmed his role in the two Star Wars sequel films. So he didn't have all the information and context that might have helped him bring the character to life. Although his discomfort didn't read to fans like me who saw the movies in theaters.
Article continues below
Andy Serkis previously admitted to being "gutted" about Snoke's death in The Last Jedi, especially following the awesome scenes he got to do in Rian Johnson's subversive sequel. In his same podcast appearance, the Lord of the Rings icon shared his reaction to reading the script for the first time. In his words:
And I’ll never forget reading the script for it. Because you go to Pinewood and you’re locked in a room and they take your mobile phone off you, and then you start reading the script. And it’s like ‘this is getting really good.’ Rian Johnson said it’s a much more meaty role in this. And I’m ‘Wow. This is getting great. This is such a good scene.’ And then it’s just ‘Alright. You’ve just been cut in half. Ok.’
Talk about emotional whiplash. Andy Serkis got some great material as Snoke in The Last Jedi... until the character was unceremoniously killed off. There were countless questions about Snoke's backstory, many of which were never answered. Although The Rise of Skywalker revealed he was actually brought to life with clone technology courtesy of Palpatine. And not even the actor could have predicted how things turned out.
Despite all of this, Serkis spoke positively about working on the set of The Last Jedi, particularly in that epic Throne Room scene with Kylo Ren and Rey. In his words:
I loved playing that scene with Daisy and with Adam. Amazing, that was amazing.
Snoke might have been shockingly killed off, but it was yet another example of how The Last Jedi subverted fan expectations after The Force Awakens. There were countless theories about Serkis' character, most of which went down the drain. That's show business, I guess.
The Star Wars franchise will return to theaters with The Mandalorian and Grogu on May 22nd as part of the 2026 movie release list. For now, Andy Serki's tenure as Snoke can be streamed on Disney+.
