Everyone thought that Emperor Palpatine's story was done since Return of the Jedi, but it looks like Disney is bringing him back with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. While some people think that his role would just be a simple cameo, it looks like it might actually be bigger.
Talking to MTV News, Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy had confirmed that Ian McDiarmid (who plays Palpatine) was involved very early in the process. She said, "We let him know right at the beginning, and he was so gung-ho for it. He had a blast."
As for Palpatine's return, it was something the story group had been thinking about ever since they were developing The Force Awakens. When asked when they thought of bringing back Palpatine, Kennedy explained:
"That goes back to when we were talking about Force Awakens, and you know just the whole blueprint of where we ended up now has kind of been in the works since then but there is nothing more thrilling than to be in that room, especially to have Ian [McDiarmid] walk out on stage, we were waiting to see what that reaction was going to be."
What does Palpatine do in the Rise of Skywalker? We don't really know yet. For now, I'm hoping he has a minimal role so we can keep the focus on Kylo Ren being the Supreme Leader of the First Order. After ditching the Vader comparison with The Last Jedi, I'm hoping Abrams doesn't dial back and just make Kylo the "lesser evil" again.
Catch Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in theaters Dec. 20.
See Also: Could Rey's Parents Have Actually Been In Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker's Trailer?
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