Star Wars: Episode 7 -- This Is Who Andy Serkis Plays

The role actor Andy Serkis will play in J.J. Abrams' upcoming Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens has finally been revealed, at least partially. The official Star Wars website today shared an image of Serkis in motion-capture gear for his character, someone named Supreme Leader Snoke.

It appears this character will be entirely CGI, which isn't strange territory for Serkis, who played fully digital characters like Gollum in The Lord of the Rings and Caesar in Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

Whether or not Snoke is a good guy or a bad guy (or something in between) remains to be seen. But his stern facial expression and the fact that his name is prefaced by "Supreme Leader" makes you think he might be one of the movie's antagonists.

Serkis previously confirmed that he did the voiceover for the first Force Awakens trailer. In this trailer, a voice we now know to be Supreme Leader Snoke said, "There has been an awakening … Have you felt it? The dark side. And the light…"

The Force Awakens hits theaters on December 18, a couple weeks after DICE's Star Wars: Battlefront debuts on current-generation consoles and PC.

What do you think about Serkis' character? Let us know in the comments below.