One of the biggest reveals to come out of Star Wars Celebration was the reveal that the Emperor will return for Episode IX, and there has been a renewed interest in Palpatine outside of prequel memes. While Ian McDiarmid didn’t get to host his own panel this year, he did have one back in 2017, and there’s this fun clip of him making a joke without realizing it.
It’s just a silly joke, but it’s fun to see how confused he was for a bit when he saw the audience react after he said "shockingly." He also has a fun bit before where he says he never expected to do a lightsaber battle and was just eager to do Palpatine’s classic Force lightning as people dropped dead in front of him.
For now, a lot of people are curious about how Palpatine will be brought back for The Rise of Skywalker, and the theories keep piling on every day. While a theory of him having a clone is kind of lazy, I’m kind of hoping they do something more with Rey and her Force visions whenever she touches objects.
My guess is that she’ll go to the old Death Star ruins, touch Palpatine’s throne and get the vision of Luke fighting Vader in Return of the Jedi. Here’s the thing though, when Rey is having the vision, the Palpatine in it starts talking to her specifically. Pretty sure that would give everyone goosebumps if that ever happened.
Then again, I’m perfectly fine if they did something nobody could predict—just like they did with The Last Jedi. The worst thing the franchise could do is give people exactly what they expect, even if they say it’s what they want.
Catch Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in theaters Dec. 20.
See Also:Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Rumors Suggest Han Solo’s Return
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Star Wars: Episode IX