Star Wars: The Force Awakens raised a lot of questions that were answered in unexpected ways in The Last Jedi, but in the case of the exact identity and backstory of the nefarious Snoke, Rian Johnson dared to offer no answer at all, seemingly killing off the Supreme Leader before the movie had even reached its climax. However, now that director J.J. Abrams is returning to the series with next year’s Star Wars: Episode IX, there’s a good chance that the filmmaker intends to create a trilogy-closer that’s more in line with the vision of his 2015 work.
We already know that Abrams had a different plan in mind when it came to the identity of Rey’s parents, with many speculating that this next film will retcon the reveal that they were nothing more than a pair of lowlife nobodies. In a similar manner, recent rumors suggest that the upcoming sequel could be delving further into the character of Snoke, though it’s unclear whether this means bringing the character back to life, or journeying into his past via flashback.
According to these reports, Episode IX could contain a scene of the Andy Serkis villain surrounded by three cloaked creatures with blue glowing eyes. Snoke himself is said to be wearing a black robe here, as opposed to his usual gold outfit, and he no longer has the injuries he suffered in The Last Jedi. Speaking of which, getting sliced in half can be pretty tough to recover from, making it a little more plausible that we’ll be journeying backwards rather than forwards in the timeline for such a sight.
Make of this rumor what you will, but this is just the latest in a long line of reports and theories which suggest that maybe this current trilogy isn’t done with Snoke quite yet. I guess we’ll see how much basis there is to the speculation when Star Wars: Episode IX hits theaters on December 20th, 2019.