‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ Spoilers: Kylo Ren Planned To Betray Snoke Before Throne Room Battle With Rey

Some fans might not be pleased with Star Wars: The Last Jedi, but the sequel certainly offered a better understanding of Kylo Ren. After all, Ben Solo’s motivations were somehow unclear in The Force Awakens. However, things moved rather swiftly for Luke Skywalker’s former student in Episode VIII, where he rose to become the new Supreme Leader. But was the murder of Supreme Leader Snoke a mere accident? Director Rian Johnson has revealed that Kylo had every intention to kill the villain in the celebrated throne room scene.

In Star Wars 8, Rey decided to go to Kylo Ren after they were connected by the Force several times. Kylo promptly brought her to Supreme Leader Snoke but not before the two had a tense conversation. The exchange resulted in Kylo using his grandfather’s lightsaber to cut his mentor in half, but the death of Snoke was not a rash decision. According to Rian Johnson, Kylo had been waiting for that moment since the beginning of The Last Jedi.

In an interview with Collider, the director of Star Wars: The Last Jedi revealed that Kylo Ren had already decided that he is done with Snoke before bringing Rey to the Supreme Leader. However, the former Ben Solo was still uncertain how he was going to get away with the betrayal.

“In my mind, he walks in there knowing basically that he is going to betray Snoke but he doesn’t know yet exactly what the mechanism is and what his opportunity is going to be.”

Rian Johnson also adds that the Supreme Leader’s biggest mistake was placing Rey’s weapon beside him because Kylo Ren “sees that opportunity with that lightsaber next to him” and takes advantage when Snoke was distracted. Needless to say, the murder of the Supreme Leader then led to an epic fight against the Elite Praetorian Guards in Star Wars 8.

The throne room fight is undoubtedly the most memorable action sequence in The Last Jedi and Rian Johnson credits both Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver for the scene. The director shared that the actors “worked their butts off for the entire prep and the entire shoot.” Luckily, their hard work led to an amazing fight sequence that rivaled the lightsaber duel in The Force Awakens. Hopefully, both Ridley and Driver will turn in great performances once again in Star Wars 9, which is scheduled for release in 2019.