The Last Jedi: Why Rian Johnson kept Snoke’s origins a mystery

Rian Johnson reveals details on why he kept fans in the dark on Snoke’s origins for Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

Let the past die. Kill it, if you have to. The actual theme of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Watching the film through that very lens uncovers many mysteries of the Force for the viewers.

However, a particular secret left uncovered was the origins of the main Dark Side baddie, Supreme Leader Snoke. For two years, fans speculated on his ancestry, with Darth Plagueis emerging as the fan favorite among those theories.

Star Wars podcaster Steele Wars even joined in on the fun, creating  “Your Snoke theory sucks” gear. Come to find out, our Snoke theories are insignificant, with the director/writer from The Last Jedi revealing his reasons for not answering that in-demand inquiry.

"It’s not something that’s particularly interesting to Rey."

Johnson provides satisfying reasoning for excluding Snoke’s backstory from The Last Jedi. The arc is about Rey and her heroine’s journey, so even though we are dying to know who Snoke is, Johnson made the right call.

The probability of killing the momentum of the film was also why Johnson didn’t include the history of the Supreme Leader.

"It’s much more like the original trilogy… if suddenly I had paused one of the scenes to give a 30-second monologue about who he was, it would have kind of stopped the scene in its tracks"

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Plus, the whole point of Snoke is to push forward Kylo Ren’s story. The sole purpose of creating Snoke was to up Kylo’s game, making him the true Dark Side leader once he defeated his Master. The fact Kylo Ren was able to outsmart the most powerful being in the known galaxy speaks volumes of what he’s capable of — while setting up intriguing possibilities for Episode IX, with Ren as the new Supreme Leader.

Snoke serves his purpose and serves it well. No doubt Lucasfilm is in the works of telling us every intricate detail of the Supreme Leader, maybe even as soon as Episode IX. 

"Hopefully, it can be addressed elsewhere or even J.J. may address it in the next movie."

Our Snoke theories do not suck; they just don’t matter as for as The Last Jedi is concerned, and that’s okay for now.

Next: We talk to Ashley Eckstein about Ahsoka and more!

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is playing in theatres, worldwide.