Star Wars Celebration: 'Villains of the Sequel Trilogy' Panel Recap

Day 3 of the Star Wars Celebration 2023 event in London featured a 'Villains of the Sequel Trilogy' panel with Ian McDiarmid, Andy Serkis, and Gwendoline Christie, who played Emperor Palpatine, Supreme Leader Snoke, and Captain Phasma, respectively.



Amy Ratcliffe was the host and asked several questions throughout the panel. Unsurprisingly, some responses were really insightful and funny.



Ratcliffe began the discussion by asking each actor who their favorite villain was when growing up; Andy Serkis had been mentally scarred by many characters during his childhood, but Christopher Lee's Dracula was the one he remembered the most because he was entranced and utterly terrified by him. And... he also wanted to be him.



(L-R): Host Amy Ratcliffe, Gwendoline Christie (Captain Phasma), Andy Serkis (Snoke), and Ian McDiarmid (Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious) at Star Wars Celebration 2023 Panel Villains of the Sequel Trilogy. Credit - Lucasfilm/Disney.



Gwendoline Christie had an interesting favorite evil character from the movie 101 Dalmatians:

Veteran Star Wars actor Ian McDiarmid agreed with Andy Serkis' choice for his childhood villain; Christopher Lee was his favourite villain when he was younger too. He even got to meet him and talked to him about the character. He also mentioned Boris Karloff as the monster in Frankenstein; he was given power but not freedom, and that kind of conflict excited him when he was a kid.



Andy Serkis as Snoke with Daisy Ridley as Rey in The Last Jedi. Credit - Lucasfilm Disney.



Ratcliffe then asked each actor to talk about their characters as played in the sequel trilogy. When discussing Gwendoline Christie's role as Captain Phasma, the host pointed out that we don't know a lot about Phasma's backstory and that we can't even see her face:

Andy Serkis opened up about his deep connection to the character of Supreme Leader Snoke:

Ian McDiarmid talked about how he incorporates or approaches what he reads from the fans about his character online:



Ian McDiarmid, J.J. Abrams, and Daisy Ridley in The Rise of Skywalker. Credit - Lucasfilm Disney

One of the final questions Ratcliffe asked the actors was whether or not they had taken any of the movie props home. Gwendoline and Andy said they had never taken any props from the set. Ian McDiarmid playfully replied, 'he got nothing because there wasn't much to give'.



The entire panel can now be viewed online via the official Star Wars YouTube channel.



Click HERE to check out and comment on this topic on our main site