Page 8 - Star Wars Insider #176

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On guard!

Rian Johnson’s plans for Snoke
and his formidable bodyguards

ntertainment Weekly recently ran a
E cover story on The Last Jedi which
included a couple of intriguing updates on
the true nature of Supreme Leader Snoke—
and a look at his fearsome elite Praetorian Guard.
While the leader of the First Order only appeared
as a giant hologram in The Force Awakens, many had
speculated that we’d be seeing a fl esh-and-blood actor

when he finally stepped out of the shadows to confront
the Resistance. Not so, according to Rian Johnson, who
revealed that Snoke will, like Maz Kanata, be entirely
motion-captured, once again performed by Andy Serkis.

Johnson also confirmed that he’s keen to keep much of
Snoke’s backstory a mystery, saying, “We’ll learn exactly as
much about Snoke as we need to.”
The elite Praetorian Guard, meanwhile, are Snoke’s deadly
bodyguards. Wearing striking crimson armor, they strongly
recall the red-clad Royal Guard that Emperor Palpatine once
surrounded himself with.
“The Emperor’s guards were very formal, and you always got

the sense that they could fight, but they didn’t,” said Johnson.
“For the Praetorians, my brief to [costume designer] Michael Kaplan
was that those guys have to be more like samurai. They have to be
built to move, and you have to believe that they could step forward
and engage if they have to. They have to seem dangerous.”

So will we get to see them in action? We’ll find out in December
when The Last Jedi explodes into cinemas...

Skywalker on Skywalker

Mark Hamill drops hints about how Luke has changed...

ark Hamill has been talking had been up to in the intervening
M about his return as Luke years. “You read where he is now and
Skywalker in The Last Jedi.
what he’s doing now and sort of have
In a new interview with the to fill in the blanks for yourself. So I

Associated Press, he reflected on the did do a backstory myself.”
long journey that his character has In the interview, Hamill also
been on over the course of fi ve movies, touched upon his initial doubts about
and 40 years. reprising the part, before he was won
“Luke changed, I think, more than over, and about the tragic loss of his
the other characters in the original close friend and co-star, Carrie Fisher.
trilogy,” he said. “From callow farm “She was irreplaceable. There can
boy to a Jedi in training to fi nally a never be a proper reunion anymore.
Jedi Master.” It’s tragic. I hate that it adds an air

Hamill also revealed that he of melancholy to the film because it
developed his own ideas of what Luke doesn’t deserve it.”

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