Star Wars: Ian McDiarmid Weighs in on The Rise of Skywalker Palpatine Clone Twist

Emperor Palpatine's surprise return in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker certainly raised many questions. However, the movie didn't get into full detail as to how he exactly came back. There have been some speculations from fans, one being that the Sith Lord was just somehow a clone, and now, actor Ian McDiarmid himself weighs in on the matter.

"The cloning thing? Yes. Well, of course, there were all sorts of explanations for why I might return," McDiarmid shared in a recent appearance at Comic-Con Brussels (via YouTube channel Insert Coin). "But it's interesting because I think I can reveal something."

The actor said that, at one point, the script had a different line a the opening scene with Adam Driver's Kylo Ren saying that Palpatine is a clone. "More than a clone. Less than a man," the Sith Lord replied in the original script that McDiarmid says is "no longer with us." He thinks that his line basically summed it up, add the fact that the camera has already panned to the clone tanks of Snoke.

"So Snoke was a clone, Palpatine was responsible for everything," McDiarmid continued. "He made everything, in one way or another. Talk about power." He says that if the fans watch the movie in the correct sequence, the "sense of evil" is threaded throughout all the films. "In a sense, when everyone commits a bad act, it's because of this character, this influence," the actor added. "Either in public or pervasively in private."

Of course, his comments didn't necessarily reveal a step by step process on how he was alive throughout all these years with the help of a cloning process, but McDiarmid's comments gave a bit more of an insight than what was shown in Episode IX.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker hits Digital HD on March 17th.

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