Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for CinemaConDetails have finally been revealed about Andy Serkis' character. Just a precious few.
Information about the new film, the first of a third trilogy, has been released gradually since the movies were announced in 2013. The new Star Wars features several returning stars, such as Harrison Ford, and a lot of newbies, including Girls' Adam Driver. Few details about their roles have already been revealed, while Serkis' was kept under wraps. Until Thursday.
That day, StarWars.com published an interview with famed photographer Annie Leibovitz, who photographed members of the cast in costume, on the set, earlier this year for Vanity Fair. Pics of other actors were published several weeks ago. The Star Wars website's post features a never-before-seen photo from the shoot, showing Serkis wearing a motion-capture suit and sporting tracking dots on his face, which bears a piercing, stormy expression.
The website reported that he is playing a character called Supreme Leader Snoke. As for what he actually looks like...well, the mystery remains. No further details were offered.
In the first teaser trailer, released in 2014, the actor is heard speaking menacingly, which had sparked speculation he would be playing a villain. Motion-capture technology was used for two of Serkis' most famous roles—Gollum / Smeagol in the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films and Caesar in Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.
Vanity Fair had featured one Leibovitz's Star Wars cast photos on its June 2015 cover. It shows Chewbacca, Ford as Han Solo), Daisy Ridley as heroine Rey and John Boyega as Finn, as well as the new android, BB8.
"One of the more emotional parts of going back this time was seeing Harrison Ford," Leibovitz told StarWars.com. "To me...this cover was really Harrison's photograph. He provided the foundation and experience to allow these young actors to really shine."
Other pics show Driver dressed as "next-generation bad guy" Kylo Ren, Game of Thrones' Gwendoline Christie as Captain Phasma, Oscar Isaac as "dashing resistance pilot Poe Dameron and Lupita Nyong'o as Maz Kanata.
She also sports tracking dots on her face. The Star Wars website says her character is a "computer-generated pirate."
Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the seventh film in the franchise, is set for release on Dec. 18.