As divisive as Star Wars: The Last Jedi was among the fans, it’s worth remembering that the film was still hugely successful at the box office and on home release, while also earning some of the best reviews of any installment of the franchise. So as much as the internet may speculate on the possibility of Star Wars: Episode IX trying to ‘fix’ the issues of its predecessor, there’s surely a limit to how much director J.J. Abrams would be willing to bend over backwards to win back detractors to the series.
Nonetheless, it remains a stubbornly persistent topic of rumor and speculation that the upcoming trilogy-closer may address at least one of the more controversial elements of The Last Jedi by bringing us more Snoke, and in a new piece by CinemaBlend, the chances of this happening are assessed at length.
One of the main inspirations for the rumor of Snoke’s return came last year when Andy Serkis pulled out of a scheduled appearance at Keystone Comic-Con in Pennsylvania. Though there are plenty of possible reasons for this withdrawal, some fans took it as a potential sign that Lucasfilm had called on him to appear in Episode IX, and to this theory’s credit, the announcement that Billy Dee Williams was reprising his role as Lando was also signaled by a canceled convention appearance.
What’s more, it’s noted that flashbacks have been more prominent in the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy than previous installments, suggesting a means of bringing us more Snoke without a resurrection. That being said, assuming that the character is indeed dead, the question is raised of what exactly the point would be in revisiting the villain. Sure, a lot of fans were mad that we never learned much about him, but now that Snoke’s essentially been removed from the drama, what significance could his backstory really have moving forward?
Still, with Snoke’s journey tied heavily to Kylo Ren’s, perhaps Abrams can find a way of seamlessly weaving some more Serkis scenes into the mix without disrupting the flow of the film. Either way, we have a long time to speculate further on the matter before Star Wars: Episode IX hits theaters on December 20th, 2019.