How Andy Serkis learned Supreme Leader Snoke's fate in 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' (spoilers)

Bryan Alexander | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Watch: 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' director Rian Johnson talks evil Snoke Director Rian Johnson talks about changes he wanted for the hideous villain Snoke (played by Andy Serkis) in "Star Wars: The Last Jedi."

Andy Serkis' story of discovering for himself his Star Wars: The Last Jedi screen fate is almost as anguishing as his evil Supreme Leader Snoke's final destiny.

It was a secret Serkis started carrying before filming his second Star Wars film as Snoke, the hideously misshapen leader of the evil The First Order.

Serkis found out Snoke's fate during a secrecy-ensured private script read during the The Last Jedi's pre-production. He left that read "knowing I would have to mask a great secret for a very, very long time."

Now appearing as the villain Klaue in Black Panther, Serkis has had a brilliant but bittersweet year for his screen characters. It's a year that started with his epic final performance as Caesar in War for the Planet of the Apes.

As Star Wars: The Last Jedi moves to Blu-ray and On-Demand release (March 27), Serkis, 53, opens up on Snoke.

Spoiler alert: STOP READING right now if you haven't seen 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi.'

More: Why 'Black Panther,' 'Star Wars' star Andy Serkis had such a rough year onscreen (spoilers!)

More: 'Star Wars': These are the big 'Last Jedi' reveals you're looking for (spoilers!)

The actor was floored as he first found out that writer-director Rian Johnson had Snoke die in a surprise ending — which came after Snoke ordered his conflicted subordinate Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) kill heroic Rey (Daisy Ridley).

Instead, Kylo Ren cleaved Snoke in two with his lightsaber.

Serkis explains his own discovery:

"I was taken to my trailer on the lot at Pinewood Studios, where I was to read the script for the first time on a tablet. We were never handed printed scripts, and had to hand back the tablet as soon as we were done. I was swiping through the story, and landed on this epic scene, where Snoke is goading Kylo Ren to kill Rey, to fulfill his destiny. It was riveting, the tension building with each line. I just couldn’t work out where it was heading. And then as I swiped up … there it was. The end … not for Rey, not for Kylo Ren, but for the Supreme Leader … just gone. I walked out of the trailer in a state of semi-shock, feeling the weight of knowing I would have to mask a great secret for a very, very long time and that my brother, a massive Star Wars fan, was going to be heartbroken."

No hard feelings for writer/director Johnson.

"I love what Rian did," says Serkis, who notes that audiences have been as surprised as he was. "I thought it was a brilliant scene."

But Serkis loved the evil Snoke, whom he had developed over two films and who was still evolving.

"I was beginning to really sink into him and really discover that character," says Serkis. "Really find who he was."

Shooting the scene with Driver and Ridley took over a week. And it was painful for Serkis, who had to fully go there imagining lightsaber agony.

"Imagining the moment where you pass, especially in that painful way, severed by a lightsaber. Part of you suffers that," he says. "It was a very intense scene to shoot."

Then there are all of these Star Wars theories around who Snoke is (or was). Serkis has his own thoughts. But he's not saying, just in the event Snoke were to appear again in the franchise. Somehow.

"I’ve had to carry that to his death. I cannot reveal that, just in case," says Serkis of his secrets. "Because in Star Wars, anything can happen."

Finally, Serkis will also miss the intense mental therapy he was getting by playing such an evil character.

"There’s something delicious getting yourself into such a dark place. It’s very much examining the darkest parts of yourself in a safe environment," says Serkis. "It’s actually very good therapy."

But in the terms of Star Wars classic deaths, Lord Snoke's is "right up there," says Serkis.

"It was a very taut, high-stakes death."