Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. As I said yesterday, the slow drip of Star Wars hype is going strong. Today Empire released a little bit more info, this time from JJ Abrams himself.
It's only natural that a publication called "Empire" would get to reveal a little about how the Dark Side is going to be represented in the upcoming new Star Wars Trilogy. Let's start with Kylo Ren.
Notice the lack of "Darth" anywhere in his name? That's intentional. Abrams flat out tells Empire that "Kylo Ren is not a Sith." That could be a bit of tricky semantics. The line of the Sith could have technically ended with Darth Vader's death and whatever the new arm of the Dark Side is could have a different name. It's possible they're represented by the Knights of Ren now. I'm just spit-balling, so don't take any of this as gospel... just some brainfarts as I process this new bit of geeky info.
Kylo works directly under Supreme Leader Snoke, Andy Serkis' character who will be brought to life with performance capture ala his work on the Apes films. Perhaps the most revealing backstory we get from this new mini-info dump surrounds Snoke and his First Order.
The First Order is known to be the remnants of the Empire trying to hold on to power, but Abrams gives a little info on the thought process realizing this new evil army. Basically he says that the concept came from thinking about what would have happened had the Nazis who escaped to Argentina been more organized. What if they worked together to slowly bring about a return of the Reich?
Abrams says the First Order sees the work of the Empire as unfulfilled and even goes so far as to say they look upon Vader as a martyr.
As for Snoke himself, Abrams would only say that he is "a powerful figure on the Dark Side of the Force." With Kylo being the focus of the marketing I have a feeling this Snoke character is the real threat facing our good guys, hiding in the shadows and waiting to pounce.
People give Abrams shit all the time for his mystery box, but even with all the leaks, two trailers, a Struzan poster and a glut of toys about to hit the market I love that little nuggets like this can still spark my imagination.
Empire very smartly is holding some key info back for the publication of their magazine, which is awesome anyway, so go pick one up from your local newstand... if those still exist. You can also get their digital edition or just be a real cool cat and subscribe!
-Eric Vespe
”Quint”
quint@aintitcool.com
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