Andy Serkis Basically Confirmed Snoke Is Not Darth Plagueis

Andy Serkis confirmed a few months ago that Supreme Leader Snoke is not secretly Darth Plagueis, the Sith master of life and death.

In an article featuring new images of Maz Kanata and Supreme Leader Snoke, Entertainment Weekly reiterated what Andy Serkis told them earlier, about his mysterious CG character in Star Wars: The Force Awakens being a new character in the saga.

Interviewer Anthony Breznican wrote, “Serkis said the character was aware of the events from the earlier films but was a new addition to the storyline.”

Image Credit: Lucasfilm

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It makes sense Snoke is a brand new villain we’ve never heard of or seen before. The clue is in the name itself: Why would a powerful Sith lord who cheated death by his apprentice, the infamous Darth Sidious, change his name from Plagueis to Snoke? He has nothing to gain by that, as far as I can see.

Additionally, this is the second time Serkis has said Snoke is a completely new character. Though J.J. Abrams has stooped to outright lying about characters in his films before, with all the negative outcry over it I don’t think fans (or Disney) would suffer a repeat.

Regardless of his past, however, Serkis assures us Snoke has big plans for the galaxy.

"“Supreme Leader Snoke is quite an enigmatic character, and strangely vulnerable at the same time as being quite powerful,” Serkis says. “Obviously he has a huge agenda. He has suffered a lot of damage. As I said, there is a strange vulnerability to him, which belies his true agenda, I suppose.”"

So what is his agenda? Perhaps he’s similar to Darth Plagueis with regard to his goals; in James Luceno’s novel about the Sith lord (now a Legends tale, meaning it’s not officially canon until the Lucasfilm story group says so), Plagueis wanted to literally usurp the Force, making him the ultimate power in the universe. That’s a lofty ambition, but one worthy of the size and presence of a damaged villain with a vendetta against Luke Skywalker.

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Such a plot may also give new meaning to the title, “The Force Awakens.” That phrase could mean many things (Rey discovering her Force powers, for one), one of which could be that the light side of the Force is finally rising again to strike back at the darkness. Snoke better be prepared.