Ever since we heard that unmistakable laughter at the end of the trailer for Star Wars Episode
IX: The Rise of Skywalker...
“Ha.”
… we've been stunned that Emperor Palpatine is returning for the conclusion of the Skywalker
Saga.
More than a few fans, however, are less stunned than peeved.
They want to know why on Earth director J.J. Abrams and co-writer Chris Terrio would bring
back a Big Bad who has supposedly been dead for more than 30 years.
Could they simply not think of any other way to raise the stakes of the sequel's story?
What kind of narrative gymnastics will Rise of Skywalker have to engage in to make this
plot development make sense?
How, exactly, can this even happen?
Palpatine is a central figure in both the original and prequel trilogies.
He starts as a Sith Lord in disguise serving as a senator in the Galactic Republic, where
he engineers the rise of the Empire.
He successfully turns Anakin Skywalker to the Dark Side of the Force and nearly achieves
complete dominance over the galaxy.
It's ultimately his rage at his inability to turn Anakin's son Luke to the Dark Side
that's his undoing.
At the conclusion of Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, Palpatine attempts to
manipulate Luke into killing his father, Anakin, a.k.a. Darth Vader.
But the plan fails.
When Luke refuses to fight, Palpatine attempts to simply kill the young Jedi, assaulting
him with Force lightning as Vader watches.
But Vader turns away from the Dark Side and toward redemption.
He seizes the Emperor and tosses him down a seemingly bottomless shaft, mortally wounding
himself in the process.
He seemingly kills Palpatine and brings balance to the Force.
The sequel trilogy picks up 30 years after these events, as the remnants of the Empire
are reforming into the nefarious First Order under the guidance of the Supreme Leader Snoke
and his protege, Kylo Ren.
Ren is Ben Skywalker, son of Han Solo and General Leia, and a former apprentice of Luke's.
Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens clearly seems to set up Snoke as the Big Bad of the
sequel trilogy, but midway through Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, Kylo Ren kills
Snoke, leaving the trilogy without a top bad guy.
"It's time to let old things die."
Snoke's death was puzzling for many fans, and was a major factor in the backlash that
The Last Jedi endured from some Star Wars fans.
The tease of Palpatine's return to the franchise stoked the ire of these fans even further,
as the move is easy to interpret as an attempt by Abrams and company to cash in on nostalgia
for the original series.
After all, Palpatine has not been featured in the sequel series up to this point, and
resurrecting him could be seen as lazy writing.
His return raises so many questions: does it lessen Darth Vader's heroic sacrifice?
Are we supposed to now buy that Palpatine has been pulling strings for all of the intervening
years between the original and sequel trilogies, and nobody has caught on?
Did he actually die and return somehow, or did he actually survive getting the heave-ho
down a bottomless shaft?
The degree to which one is willing to go along with this plot wrinkle is going to depend
largely on trust in Abrams.
In a recent interview with Empire magazine, the director made it known that he's aware
that some fans are confused, and he attempted to reassure those fans that he knows what
he's doing.
He said:
"Some people feel like we shouldn't revisit the idea of Palpatine, and I completely understand
that.
But if you're looking at these nine films as one story, I don't know many books where
the last few chapters have nothing to do with those that have come before.
If you look at the first eight films, all the set-ups of what we're doing in [Rise of
Skywalker] are there in plain view."
One thing we know is that Palpatine's appearance will be no mere cameo; he's going to be instrumental
to the events of Episode IX, and if a recent leak detailing his involvement in the narrative
turns out to be accurate, his return could actually end up making a great deal more sense
than it might initially seem to.
“Ha,”
We'll find out the reasoning behind Palpatine's return and surely find out how fans feel about
it when Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker hits the big screen December 20.
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