Star Wars: Andy Serkis Wishes Snoke Survived 'The Last Jedi'

After the character was introduced in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, many fans were eager to learn more about the enigmatic Supreme Leader Snoke. And then he was surprisingly killed off by his own apprentice Kylo Ren in The Last Jedi.

The death not only shocked Star Wars fans, but Snoke actor Andy Serkis himself. During a recent interview with GamesRadar, Serkis admitted that he wished his character would have lived on for future cinematic appearances.

"It was a bit of a shock",Serkis said, "but I could see exactly why they were going that route, and I think it was a huge surprise in the middle of the film. But I really loved the scene where Rey plays with Snoke. That scene was a fantastic. I just wish he'd survived, but who knows?"

Of course, it's possible that Snoke could return in the future — stranger things have happened in the Star Wars universe. And Serkis himself is game to make a comeback, and is even stoking the fire on rumors about Snoke's involvement in Star Wars: Episode IX.

"I emailed [director] J.J. [Abrams] and said, 'Let me know how things are going and how exciting it all is.' Of course, I'm very keen to see how the family's getting on," Serkis said in an interview with Hey U Guys. "Who knows, Snoke might come back, I'm not saying anything. I'm only making that up. I'm totally just rumor-spreading for the sake of it, but anything can happen."

While Star Wars: The Last Jedi was yet another billion dollar box office hit for Lucasfilm, it earned a mixed reception among fans including those who criticized the decision to kill off Snoke without explaining his backstory. Director and writer Rian Johnson defended his decision, clarifying that the new trilogy isn't in the business of telling Snoke's story.

"In this particular story, it's much more like the original trilogy, where with Snoke if you think about the actual scenes, if suddenly I had paused one of the scenes to give a 30-second monologue about who he was, it would have kind of stopped the scene in its tracks, I realized," Johnson said at a BAFTA Q&A around the film's release. "Even though it could have been interesting, something that fans were interested in, as storytellers, we have to kind of serve what the scenes need to be."

Maybe Abrams will provide some closure to fans when Star Wars: Episode IX premieres in theaters in December 2019.