One of the most unexpected twists in Star Wars: The Last Jedi had to be the death of Supreme Leader Snoke at the hands of his "apprentice" Kylo Ren. It's at this point the movie teases us with the possibility that Ben Solo is about to return to the Light Side of the Force but his allegiances remain unchanged and now director Rian Johnson has explained why he decided to kill the mysterious villain.
Before that, though, the filmmaker weighed in on not providing an origin story for Snoke and his comments make perfect sense. "It would have stopped any of these scenes dead cold if he had stopped and given a 30-second speech about how he’s Darth Plagueis…It doesn’t matter to Rey. If he had done that, Rey would have blinked and said, ‘Who?’ And the scene would have gone on…and I’m not saying he’s Darth Plagueis!" That's a valid point but probably won't appease some angry fans.
"When I was working on the character of Kylo, I came to a place where I thought the most interesting thing would be to knock the shaky foundation out from under him at the beginning of this movie," Johnson said in regards to the story behind killing Snoke. "By the end of this film, he’s gone from being a wannabe Vader to someone who is standing on his own feet as a complex villain taking the reins."
"But then the question is: What place would Snoke have at the end of that?…That made me realize the most interesting thing would be to eliminate that dynamic between the ‘emperor’ and pupil, so that all bets are off going into the next one. That also led to the possibility of this dramatic turn in the middle, which could also be a really powerful connection point between Kylo and Rey."
What do you think about these new Star Wars: The Last Jedi details from Johnson? Do you think he handled Supreme Leader Snoke the right way? As always, share your thoughts in the usual place.