The Mandalorian Director Weighs in on That Big Snoke Connection in New Episode

In the years following Star Wars fans first meeting Supreme Leader Snoke in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, we conjured all sorts of theories about his origins, only for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker to confirm that the figure was nothing more than an avatar for Emperor Palpatine. This reveal took many audiences by surprise, but other corners of the franchise have found ways to plant the seed for how such a feat was possible. The most recent episode of The Mandalorian, for example, saw our heroes discover an Imperial base that contained clones, hinting that the Empire was experimenting with transferring someone into a new body, a notion which director of the episode Carl Weathers recently shed insight into.

“I loved it, because there was almost no track laid to tell you what this was going to be about,” Weathers shared with Empire about exploring those concepts. “And so as you followed it, the challenge for me as a director – and I’m certain the challenge for Jon [Favreau] as a writer-producer – was keeping people engaged, wanting to know what’s going to happen next. And when you find out what’s really involved here, you finally get to, ‘Oh man, this thing is much bigger than we thought.’”

Fans have wondered since his first appearance what the Empire wanted with Baby Yoda, with some of those questions starting to earn answers. Despite the hints in this latest episode about what the future holds for the Empire, there’s still a number of mysterious components, though Weathers claims fans can learn everything they need to know just by watching the episode.

“When you listen to the dialogue, it’s pretty much explained, without saying, ‘OK, now let us tell you what this means!’” the filmmaker admitted. “We all find out almost simultaneously, which means the audience finds out. Then the character in the hologram comes in and underscores what it’s all about and who is really responsible for it all. So we understand now that this episode really is calling back to all of the stuff that’s been going on out there, and what the Mandalorian is up against, and what we’re all up against with that guy called Moff Gideon.”

Part of what makes the Star Wars franchise so exciting is that, while some mysteries are never explained, the devout fans who consume all corners of the franchise earn additional details. Earlier this month, an issue of Star Wars: Darth Vader, which currently takes place after the events of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, also hinted that Emperor Palpatine was crafting a secret project in the far corners of the galaxy, the implication being the creation of Snoke.

New episodes of The Mandalorian debut on Disney+ each Friday. If you haven’t signed up for Disney+ yet, you can try it out here.

Are you hoping to learn more about the history of Snoke? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!

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