The two years between The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi are what I like to think of as the golden age of Snoke fan theories. Introduced as a shadowy, mysterious and incredibly powerful hologram, the character seemed like he’d be the core of the new Star Wars trilogy. As such, there were theories that he was the legendary Darth Plagueis, that we’d see his home planet and even that he was secretly a woman.
All of this theorizing was put to bed succinctly when Kylo Ren chopped him in half, and the revelation that he was simply a clone puppeteered by Palpatine put a full stop to the gossip. But there’s still life left in the old dog yet, it seems.
Star Wars fans are theorizing that Snoke may have been a clone of Peter Cushing’s Grand Moff Tarkin. Tarkin was the commander of the Death Star and appeared in A New Hope and Rogue One (in dodgy CGI form). He died when the first Death Star exploded, of course, but now we all know that being in the middle of a gigantic exploding planet-sized space station isn’t as fatal as it used to be.
Here’s the reasoning behind this theory. Firstly, they look vaguely alike, with blue eyes and sunken cheeks. Secondly they.. uh.. Well, to be honest, that’s it as far as the argument goes. I guess you could fan-craft a theory that Palpatine recognized Tarkin’s skills and realized he’d be a good candidate for a puppet. But that doesn’t explain why Snoke has innate Force powers and Tarkin doesn’t (unless Tarkin himself never realized he was Force Sensitive).
So, while it’s a nice idea, I don’t think this theory is going to pan out. Plus, one character surviving being blown up in a Death Star by magical cloning technology is bad enough, let alone two.