Star Wars: The Last Jedi Spoilers Tease Rey & Snoke Throne Room Scene

The new Star Wars: The Last Jedi trailer revealed a throne room encounter between Rey and Supreme Leader Snoke, similar to Luke and The Emperor’s face-off at the end of Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi. It’s here we’ll probably learn about Rey’s background and who stranded her on Jakku as a child.

Unlike the production of both The Force Awakens and Rogue One — which both leaked like the side of Jabba’s mouth — The Last Jedi has managed to keep most of its secrets. There are no explicit leaks that reveal Snoke’s identity, Luke Skywalker’s allegiances or Rey’s parentage. But there is some crucial context (and some Taiwanese subtitles) that points to Snoke’s long-term scheming: Rey has always been Snoke’s project.

This isn’t verified beyond an eyeball scan of SleepingAran’s posting history and two minutes with Google Translate, but the frequent r/PrequelMemes poster translates the Taiwanese-subtitled Last Jedi trailer as indicating Snoke is speaking to a woman, presumably Rey, when he says, “When I found you, I saw raw, untamed power. And beyond that, something truly special.” This runs counter to the reading suggested by the editing, which uses the line over a shot of a contemplative Kylo Ren.

We’ve been through this variety of spoiler before. Remember when translations “revealed” the The Last Jedi to be plural? It isn’t:

But let’s not trust the editing of the trailer, either. Look back to the Force Awakens trailer and how subtly it not only covers actual plot events, but misdirects. Rey is only seen with a blaster, Finn is the one wielding a lightsaber. Han Solo even says “the Jedi” right over Finn’s face. We’re subtly steered away from details of the characters’ journeys.

So the evidence is too thin for certainty here, but considering Snoke’s line as a reference to Rey makes a lot of sense. Why would Snoke give Kylo Ren a pep talk in the first place? “Fulfill your destiny,” he says at the end of the latest trailer. Maybe it’s more than just arch-villain copypasta this time. Maybe Snoke has been preparing for Rey’s awakening into the Force.

At this point, there are plenty of reasons to suspect something weird happened on Jakku. It’s central to the history built up in Chuck Wendig’s Star Wars: Aftermath novels. Aftermath: Life Debt revealed Jakku to be a site of great interest to Emperor Palpatine, who set up an archaeological dig. Did he dig up Snoke?

It’s hard to imagine Snoke knows nothing about Rey, even if he just called her “the scavenger” in The Force Awakens. We’ll meet a new and different Snoke in The Last Jedi, who has traded his tattered robes and secret conferences for gold fabrics and open warfare. Where does Snoke’s confidence come from, if not carefully laid plans?

Which, of course, doesn’t tell us anything about who’s turning to or away from the Dark Side. There are just too many combinations of Dark Side Luke, Dark Side Rey and Resistance Kylo to be sure of anything right now.

Tickets are on sale now for Dec. 14 screenings of Star Wars: The Last Jedi.