text: star wars andy serkis snoke mo cap motion capture picture of new characters | Films | Entertainment | Express.co.uk
  STAR WARS character Supreme Leader Snoke is seen for the first time as Andy Serkis shoots motion capture scene.
  PUBLISHED: 13:20, Fri, May 29, 2015 | UPDATED: 14:32, Fri, May 29, 2015
  The Star Wars: The Force Awakens universe is slowly being revealed.
  The latest picture by Annie Leibovitz was revealed on starwars.com and shows Andy Serkis shooting a scene as the mysterious Supreme Leader Snoke. It is a previously unseen and unpublished shot from the photographer's recent feature on the new film in Vanity Fair.
  Once again the Planet of The Apes and Lord of The Rings star is shown being filmed using motion capture technology, meaning his on screen character will be computer generated.
  Little is known about what Snoke will ultimately look like, but the character has been heard already on the first trailer for The Force Awakens, which debuted in November 2014. Serkis confirmed in December that he voiced the key line: "The dark side, and the light".
  Fans have already been speculating about his role in the new trilogy, suggesting that he may be the leader of the sinister First Order – the name for the remnants of the evil Galactic Empire created by Emperor Palpatine and destroyed at the end of The Return of the Jedi.
  Star Wars: The Force Awakens is set thirty years after the fall of the Galactic Empire and plot details are still being kept closely under wraps. We have already seen Imperial Storm Troopers in action, but it still unclear whose orders they are following.
  SCROLL DOWN FOR THE IMAGE OF ANDY SERKIS AS SNOKE
  Serkis is known as a mo-cap specialist, after portraying Gollum and King Kong for director Peter Jackson, as well as the simian leader Caesar in the rebooted Planet of the Apes movies.
  In 2011, he co-founded the London-based motion capture studio The Imaginarium to advance the art of the "cyber-thespian" and provide content for major Hollywood movies such as Serkis's own upcoming directorial debut, The Jungle Book: Origins.
  As well as Serkis, Lupita Nyong'o will be playing another computer-generated character, the pirate Maz Kanata, in the new Star Wars film. The Oscar-winning actress has also been filming her scenes using motion capture techniques.
  She is not the only major star joining the franchise – Star Trek actor Simon Pegg recently let slip that James Bond himself, aka Daniel Craig, has filmed a secret cameo for the new film. Click here for more details.
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  The film will feature the return of iconic original Star Wars cast members Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia) and Harrison Ford (Han Solo), as well as Chewbacca.
  The first installment in the new trilogy introduces further newcomers John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver, Max von Sydow, Domhnall Gleeson and Serkis.
  It will be followed by a stand alone film, Star Wars Anthology: Rogue One, starring The Theory of Everything's Felcity Jones in December 2016, before the second part of the trilogy is released in 2017.