The most potent enemy of the Jedi Order is returning… but how?
A new rumor has surfaced around the return of Emperor Palpatine, AKA Darth Sidious , in
the upcoming Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker.
It indicates that there won't be any arcane rituals or Sith trickery involved - rather,
that the explanation for the Emperor's return will be an exceedingly simple one.
The Emperor seemed to have met a decisive end in his final screen appearance, but the
first trailer for The Rise of Skywalker teased us with the sound of the villain's distinctive
laugh.
Since the spot's release, it's become public that Ian McDiarmid, who portrayed the character
in all of his previous appearances, is involved with the new film - leading to fan speculation
that Palpatine may appear in some kind of vision, or as a Force Ghost, or even return
as a clone.
"As you know in Star Wars, they're very good at dealing in unexpected moments the whole
time, and secrets are a big thing."
According to some new purported spoilers for Episode IX making the rounds on the internet,
the real explanation is quite a bit more mundane.
Instead of coming back as a ghost or spirit, it's being claimed that the Emperor has actually
just been physically alive this whole time, waiting for the right moment to make his presence
known once again.
Hey, weirder things have happened.
Fans will remember that at the conclusion of 1983's Return of the Jedi, the last time
in the series timeline that we saw Palpatine in the flesh, the Emperor was thwarted in
his plan to turn Luke Skywalker to the Dark Side of the Force.
The Emperor pitted Skywalker against his father, Darth Vader, in a duel to the death, hoping
to take the young Jedi on as his new apprentice if he managed to kill the Sith Lord.
But at the last moment, Skywalker realized that he was being manipulated, and refused
to continue the fight.
Enraged, the Emperor began torturing Luke with bolts of Force lightning, and he surely
would have killed the Jedi if not for an abrupt face turn by Vader.
The former Anakin Skywalker was unexpectedly moved by Luke calling out to him, and in a
stunning act of self-sacrifice, he seized the Emperor and threw him to his apparent
death down a seemingly bottomless shaft, mortally wounding himself in the process.
The redeeming act appeared to finally bring balance to the Force and restored Vader, in
the final moments of his life, to his former self; unfortunately, after revealing his face
to his son for the first time, Vader succumbed to his injuries.
It was a dramatic and stirring climax to the original Star Wars trilogy, but it certainly
didn't seem to leave much leeway for the character of the Emperor to return - outside of the
prequels, of course.
But now, it seems that Disney, Lucasfilm, and J.J. Abrams are choosing to bring Palpatine
back for the conclusion of the Skywalker Saga in Episode IX.
If these new rumors about how they're doing it are true, then the filmmakers apparently
chose to go with the simplest possible explanation.
Further rumors state that those killer-looking, red Sith Troopers that have been teased at
conventions and in promo materials are part of a force assembled by none other than Palpatine
himself.
They will apparently be there to help Palpatine achieve his goal in the new movie, attempting
to lure Rey to the Dark Side, in what would basically amount to a do-over of his failed
plan to make a Sith apprentice out of Luke.
"Again it's like poetry, sort of.
They rhyme."
The question is, will fans actually like it if this is how Palpatine comes back?
The first film of Disney's sequel trilogy, The Force Awakens, was a crowd-pleasing hit
that made all of the money when it saw release in 2015 - but it also drew fire in some quarters
for essentially being an elaborate retelling of the original film.
Bringing Palpatine back to basically get up to his same old tricks seems like it would
invite the same kind of criticism, and to simply hand-wave the end of Return of the
Jedi with the explanation "Oh, he survived that" would definitely add more fuel to that
fire.
But again, weirder things have happened.
An open question is how this new purported plot leak seems to contradict earlier reports
that pegged Palpatine as returning in a more spiritual form, taking possession of a dark
side acolyte before ultimately finding his way into Kylo Ren.
Is it possible both versions of the supposed script leaks are true?
Or are both equally bunk?
"A good question for another time."
For the time being, we'll just have to wait to see how it all shakes out until Star Wars
Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker hits the big screen on December 20.
We know one thing, though: if Palpatine does indeed return to try and entice Rey over to
the Dark Side, he'd better make sure to steer clear of any bottomless shafts, especially
if Kylo Ren is anywhere in the vicinity.
Those dark disciples can turn on you in a hurry.
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