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Andy Serkis Has A Much Bigger Role In ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Than We Thought [Spoilers]

By Dustin Wicksell
Published on: 13:10 PST, Aug 25, 2015

Up until now, Andy Serkis’ role in Star Wars: The Force Awakens hasn’t drawn much attention from fans, but with new revelations emerging from J.J. Abrams today, we just found out that the man responsible for bringing Gollum to the screen is set to play a much bigger role in the upcoming blockbuster than was previously believed.

[Spoilers Ahead]

Much of the focus ahead of the release of The Force Awakens has been on Kylo Ren, the most visible antagonist of the newest Star Wars. Fans believed that the masked villain, who sports a ragged and deadly crossguard lightsaber, was to be the Darth Vader of The Force Awakens. It turns out, apparently, that they were more right than they knew. While Vader ultimately proved not to be the supreme face of evil in the original Star Wars trilogy, Kylo Ren won’t take on that role in The Force Awakens.

Speaking with Empire magazine recently, J.J. Abrams spilled some of the dirt on Kylo Ren, who he previously revealed was a member of an order known as the Knights of Ren.

“Kylo Ren is not a Sith. He works under Supreme Leader Snoke, who is a powerful figure on the Dark Side of the Force.”

As IGN reports, Supreme Leader Snoke is a motion capture character, set to be portrayed by Serkis. Earlier this year, the name of the character was revealed, along with a picture of Serkis filming, yet that information barely made a blip on fans’ radar amid all of the leaks that have stemmed from the set of The Force Awakens. With that single sentence, Abrams has now guaranteed that fan interest in the apparent new Dark Lord of the Sith will skyrocket.

Fans have previously noted that it was Serkis’ voice narrating the first teaser for The Force Awakens, which now looks to have been a sly hint regarding the import of his character. While many assumed that it was Kylo Ren who cradled the burnt mask of Darth Vader in the preview, it appears that it might have actually been Snoke, who may or may not also be the individual holding Anakin Skywalker’s helmet in concept artwork that leaked earlier this year.

Abrams also detailed the new version of the Empire, the First Order, which is presumably ruled over by Serkis’ character, as well as Ren and General Hux.

“That all came out of conversations about what would have happened if the Nazis all went to Argentina but then started working together again? What could be born of that? Could The First Order exist as a group that actually admired The Empire? Could the work of The Empire be seen as unfulfilled? And could Vader be a martyr? Could there be a need to see through what didn’t get done?”

Fans will have to wait only a few months to find out exactly who Supreme Leader Snoke is, and how Andy Serkis brings the Dark Side of the Force back to life in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

[Photo by Ian Gavan / Getty Images]

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