A popular Star Wars fan theorist is convinced Snoke isn’t dead, and he may just be right. The Last Jedi was full of twists and major reveals — not all which went over too well with fans. Luke Skywalker’s death was the real heartbreaker, but the demise of Supreme Leader Snoke was easily the most shocking. After being set up as the new trilogy’s big bad in The Force Awakens, the seemingly all-powerful dark side user was betrayed and murdered by his apprentice, Kylo Ren. Kylo cut his master down with Luke’s lightsaber, Snoke’s body was split in two, and that appeared to be that.


Many fans were decidedly not thrilled to see Snoke go down out of the blue like that. More specifically, folks were not happy to see him go down before we learned all that much about him. But if a new fan theory holds true, he’ll have a far bigger role in Episode IX than we thought. The sort of role you can’t pull off when you’re actually dead.


According to Youtuber Star Wars Theory, the Supreme Leader will return in a major way in Episode IX. How’s that? Because he was never actually in the room with Kylo and Rey to begin with. We’ve discussed the possibility that throne room Snoke was actually a Force projection before, but Star Wars Theory is packing a ton of new info to support the hypothesis. Much of it comes straight from the official guidebooks released with The Last Jedi, in fact. Star Wars The Last Jedi: The Visual Dictionary contains a few interesting tidbits about Snoke’s past, but it also makes repeated mentions of his ability to project his form across great distances, a skill we’ve seen him employ on numerous occasions while speaking with General Hux and Kylo Ren.


Star Wars Theory provides a bunch more evidence to back up his theory, so be sure to check out parts one and two for the full rundown. (There’s a particularly interesting bit about his slippers that could explain his body thudding to the ground, by the way.) Perhaps the biggest piece of evidence pertains to Rey and Kylo’s mental bridge in The Last Jedi, which Snoke revealed that he’d created himself. So why does that bridge remain intact so long after his death? It could somehow be permanent, sure, but Luke’s gold dice weren’t, so…


Additionally, Last Jedi director Rian Johnson has teased that more details of Snoke’s past may be revealed in episode IX. Why would they take the time to do that for a dead character? Honestly, it’s very possible that Kylo Ren may not have a stranglehold on the Supreme Leader position after all.


So what do you think? Will IX undo the big twist of The Last Jedi and reveal that Snoke pulled a Luke? Do you have any additional evidence to suggest that Snoke is going to pull off a major comeback? Let us know in the comments.