Supreme Leader Snoke's Actor Returns In 'Star Wars: Andor'

Star Wars

Oct 27

Supreme Leader Snoke, first introduced in The Force Awakens back in 2015, served as one of the main antagonists of the sequel trilogy. With a unique appearance and a rumbling voice, he acted as one of the driving forces behind Kylo Ren’s fall to the dark side and rise to the role of Supreme Leader of the First Order. In his first appearance, Snoke pushed Ren to embrace the dark side of the Force by instructing him to capture future Jedi Rey and sever his connection to his old life as Ben Solo.

Snoke’s desire to turn Kylo fully would ultimately lead to his death in The Last Jedi when he pushed his apprentice to his breaking point and encouraged him to strike down Rey in front of him. Having formed a close connection with Rey and desiring the position of Supreme Leader himself, Kylo bisected his former master and left him as a rotting corpse while he took control of the First Order. While Snoke was an entertaining character and served Rey and Kylo’s arcs well, many fans felt that the character had been underutilized, especially regarding the talent of his voice and motion-capture actor, Andy Serkis.

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Seems all of those Snoke theories may have finally paid off. In the latest episode titled “Narkina 5,” Cassian Andor, under the name “Keef,” is brought to a prison labor facility on the titular planet to serve out his sentence. After Cassian is brought into a large room along with the rest of the prisoners, he is met by a fellow inmate named Kino Loy, played by Serkis. Loy explains to Cassian his new routine and the work that he and the others in his assigned group are expected to carry out every day of their sentences. Loy also maintains a watchful eye over the rest of the prisoners, breaking up fights and making sure they stay on task. Serkis does excellent work here, demonstrating a tough-as-nails attitude while also showing genuine care for those in the prison with him.

Serkis as Kino Loy in Andor — Image Source: YouTube

Known primarily for his motion-captured performances for computer-generated characters, including Gollum, Caesar, and King Kong, Serkis has proven himself to be an impeccable performer, capable of expressing raw emotion and nuance through his face, voice, and physical mannerisms. This isn’t even getting into his numerous non-motion capture roles, including his recent role as Alfred Pennyworth in the Matt Reeves reboot of the Batman franchise. He has also dabbled in the world of directing with the films Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle and Venom: Let There Be Carnage.

With Serkis’ immense talents and capabilities as an actor, it is no surprise that a good number of people felt that the sequel trilogy could have used him more effectively. Fortunately, the actor has gotten a second chance at the galaxy far, far away in the most recent Star Wars streaming series, Andor. Hopefully, he will get to show off his acting chops and avoid having his screen time cut in half.