Star Wars Writer Says Palpatine’s Return in The Rise of Skywalker was Kathleen Kennedy’s Idea

Star Wars fans were pretty surprised when they heard the familiar cackle of Emperor Palpatine during the last few seconds of the very first teaser for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. The last time everyone had seen Darth Sidious, he was falling off the Death Star in Star Wars: The Return of the Jedi. No one expected Palpatine to make a surprise return.

Whose idea was it to bring Palpatine back to the franchise? Fans would assume that it had all been part of J.J. Abrams' plan, but as it turns out, Darth Sidious' return was Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy's business.

Speaking in an interview with Awards Daily,The Rise of Skywalker co-writer Chris Terrio talks about the writing process behind Episode IX, and according to the screenwriter, Palpatine had all been Kennedy's doing. Apparently, the Lucasfilm President had pitched the idea to the Episode IX writing team. Though Terrio doesn't specify whether Palpatine's return had been demand or a mere suggestion, Terrio makes it clear that Kennedy had a clear plan for how Lucasfilm wanted the franchise had to end.

"Kathy Kennedy and Michelle Rejwan had a clear plan for where they wanted things to end," Terrio told the entertainment news site, "They had clear plans about certain narrative marks they wanted us to hit. They also gave us a lot of freedom within that,"

"We knew that Rey and Ren were utterly key to this trilogy, but we also felt that there was no way that we were going to not find a path to redemption for Kylo Ren, the son of Han and Leia," the screenwriter continued, "We felt that right from the beginning, when [director/co-writer] J.J. [Abrams] established Kylo Ren in Episode VII, there was a war going on inside him and that he had been corrupted by something bigger than himself and had made bad choices along the way. J.J. and I felt we needed to find a way in which he could be redeemed, and that gets tricky at the end of Episode VIII because Snoke is gone."

It seems like Palpatine had to be brought in to help Kylo Ren transition towards a path of redemption. Though some are pretty glad that Palpatine made a return in Episode IX, it would have also been pretty interesting to see how Abrams would have written a redemption arc for Kylo Ren without Darth Sidious in the picture. I would have loved to see the internal struggle in the wayward son of Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Leia (the late Carrie Fisher).

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is screening in cinemas.

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