Star Wars: The Last Jedi probably won't reveal Snoke's identity

Hold on to your Snoke theories, you're going to need them a while longer.

There was an assumption, in part, that The Last Jedi would reveal the identity of the franchise's new, shadowy villain; the puppet-master behind Kylo Ren, and this story's equivalent to the Emperor.

Turns out, Snoke will actually share more in common with the original trilogy's treatment of the Emperor as previously thought. As in, we aren't going to find a whole lot out about him.

"We'll learn exactly as much about Snoke as we need to," director Rian Johnson told Entertainment Weekly. The Last Jedi will reveal more about the character and his plans, but, as the article points out, "his history will remain somewhat murky".

"Similar to Rey’s parentage, Snoke is here to serve a function in the story. And a story is not a Wikipedia page," he added. "For example, in the original trilogy, we didn’t know anything about the Emperor except what Luke knew about him, that he’s the evil guy behind Vader. Then in the prequels, you knew everything about Palpatine because his rise to power was the story."

We will, at least, get to meet him face-to-face in an entirely mo-cap performance by Andy Serkis. That also involves being introduced to his bodyguards, the Praetorian Guard, a new take on the crimson-cloaked Imperial guards who flanked the Emperor in Return of the Jedi.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi hits UK cinemas 14 December.