Why 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' Has Unanswered Snoke Questions

Lucasfilm is once again printing out money at the box office for the third December in a row, but despite the success of Star Wars: The Last Jedi some fans have expressed disappointment with the story.

Many of the gripes come from how writer and director Rian Johnson's dealt with many of the mysteries established in The Force Awakens, including a major event dealing with the villainous Supreme Leader Snoke.

Warning: Spoilers for Star Wars: The Last Jedi below.

At the climax of the film's second act, Kylo Ren kills Snoke rather unexpectedly, and the plot basically ignores all of the fan theories about "Who is Snoke?" that have been perpetuating ever since The Force Awakens hit theaters.

Johnson spoke about why there are unanswered questions surrounding the enigmatic leader of the First Order during a conversation with CinemaBlend.

"In terms of the identity of Snoke, again, I wrote the script while they were shooting [The Force Awakens], so I wrote it before all of the 'Who is Snoke' theories started coming up," said Johnson. "Which I love, and I think it's a huge... and also, what I'm about to say as to why I didn't address [his origins] in this movie. I don't want to imply that that's not interesting, or that's not cool, or it doesn't matter. I think, who knows, they might address it in Episode IX. They might address it elsewhere."

Which is entirely plausible, considering the Star Wars franchise has spanned across novels, comic books, video games, and animated series for a long time.

"What I knew was that in this film, similar to with the Emperor in the original trilogy, it's just not what this story is about," Johnson said. "And the Emperor in the original trilogy, you know nothing about him. Because you don't have to! It's not what it's about. ... The Emperor is in two [scenes] of the movie, and you know everything that you need to know about him. It's the exact same thing in this trilogy. As opposed to the prequels, where you know everything about him because you need to. Because that's the story."

Johnson also explained before that Snoke's death serves to push Kylo Ren in a new, intriguing direction. After killing his master and seizing control of the First Order, the former Ben Solo has done what Darth Vader never could do. And that makes the prospect of Star Wars: Episode IX much more exciting.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is now playing in theaters everywhere.