We've been getting quite a lot of teasers coming out of the impending issue of Empire Magazine with the cover story on Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which will hit newsstands this coming Thursday, August 27th. The latest tidbit to come out of the story is yet another bit of clarification about Adam Driver's Kylo Ren, the presumed lead villain of Star Wars 7. While we've already learned that Kylo Ren is obsessed, in his way, with Darth Vader, and that his mask and general appearance are a nod to that character, director J.J. Abrams confirms in the story that  Driver's character "is not a Sith." Abrams goes onto say, "[Kylo Ren] works under Supreme Leader Snoke, who is a powerful figure on the Dark Side of the Force.”

Snoke is a performance-captured digital character, played and voiced by the great Andy Serkis. We've yet to get a full gander at the character yet but anticipation is understandably high to see how he's designed, especially as this news confirms that he's essentially the new Emperor for Abrams' film. And speaking of the Dark Side characters, the filmmaker also likened the aforementioned First Order to the Nazis, if they had reunited after fleeing to Argentina.

Here's his exact quote:

“That all came out of conversations about what would have happened if the Nazis all went to Argentina but then started working together again? What could be born of that? Could The First Order exist as a group that actually admired The Empire? Could the work of The Empire be seen as unfulfilled? And could Vader be a martyr? Could there be a need to see through what didn’t get done?”

star-wars-7-adam-driver-kylo-ren

Considering that a great deal of movie villains have been modeled after the Nazis - in fact, most of them are -  this doesn't come as a huge surprise, but the way Abrams discusses the First Order underlines his insistence that the new world cannot be seen simply in terms of heroes and villains. He seems to be genuinely looking at these characters in terms of what they believe is right for the galaxy and speaking more of belief rather than simple ideas of sadistic slaying. It's certainly another reason to get excited for Star Wars 7, though it wasn't like we were in need of a new reason or anything.

The film hits theaters nationwide on December 18th and also stars John BoyegaDaisy RidleyOscar IsaacGwendoline ChristieDomhnall GleesonMark HamillCarrie FisherHarrison FordPeter MayhewLupita Nyong’oAnthony DanielsKenny Baker and Max von Sydow.

For more on Star Wars: The Force Awakens, check out some of our recent articles below:

star-wars-the-force-awakens-teaser-poster