The identity of Supreme Leader Snoke from The Force Awakens has been a heated fan debate since the character for appeared on the screen. Is it The Emperor returned to life as a shadowy figure? Is it an ancient Sith Lord aiming to regain control of the galaxy? Is it even Boba Fett? It’s not Boba Fett, but that was certainly a fun fan theory to read about.
While many were hopeful that the new Star Wars novels would shed some light on the character, but the character most believed to be Snoke was killed off in the final book of the Aftermath trilogy. Other theories have also been shot down since The Force Awakens, making The Last Jedi the only official opportunity we’d have had to put fans at ease. The sad news is we won’t find out anything about Snoke in The Last Jedi according to Vanity Fair’s David Kamp in a Reddit AMA:
“I asked [director] Rian Johnson about Snoke—Who/what is he?—and Rian was fairly up front in saying that Snoke is not a character he particularly gets into in TLJ,” Kamp said. “Hmmm.”
We likely have to spend plenty of time with Luke to make up for his absence in the last film and the lack of Snoke probably hints that there’s a lot we have to get to. You also can’t forget that we didn’t meet the Emperor in full until Return Of The Jedi. We’ve already seen more of Snoke than we ever got from Palpatine before he arrived on the second Death Star, the only real difference is we didn’t have the internet back then.
The good news is that fans now have plenty of time to concoct new theories and ideas about the identity of the Supreme Leader. Maybe we’ll find out he’s really Doctor Evazan and the entire First Order is just an attempt to get back at Luke Skywalker for cutting his buddy’s arm off. We doubt anyone has tossed that one out yet.