Comments by Star Wars actor Ian McDiarmid suggest that fans shouldn’t rule out the return of his character, the villainous Emperor Palpatine.
McDiarmid made the remarks during an interview with Metro late last year, which recently resurfaced on Reddit. “I think I have to accept that, thanks to my ungrateful granddaughter, my annihilation was finally final, ” joked McDiarmid, referencing Palpatine’s seemingly permanent defeat by Rey in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. “[But] of course [Darth] Vader is back in the new [Obi-Wan Kenobi] television series so I suppose it’s not impossible that one day his mentor might be discovered once again skulking in the shadows.”
Palpatine’s first supposedly permanent death came in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi when the Sith Lord was hurled into the reactor of the Death Star II by his apprentice, Darth Vader. Palpatine’s body exploded at the bottom of the reactor shaft, which led most people — both in the Star Wars universe and in real life — to assume he was gone forever.
This assumption proved incorrect, however, as the resurrected Palpatine would later serve as the major antagonist in The Rise of Skywalker. During the climax of the film, Palpatine went head-to-head with his own granddaughter, Rey, who disintegrated the Sith Lord with his own Force Lightning, seemingly wiping him out for good.
Based on Palpatine’s knack for surviving seemingly fatal injuries, McDiarmid’s refusal to rule out the possibility that the iconic baddie will return from the grave yet again in the future is hardly a surprise. That said, the veteran stage and screen actor’s comments also hint that Palpatine’s return need not be so dramatic as a full-blown resurrection.
McDiarmid referenced Darth Vader’s role in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series, which is set before Vader himself died in Return of the Jedi. This suggests that any potential comeback by Palpatine could take place under similar circumstances, with McDiarmid reprising the role in a Star Wars film or TV show that takes place before one or both of Palpatine’s deaths.
McDiarmid certainly has form in this regard. When he portrayed Palpatine in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, he was playing a younger version of the character decades prior to his death in Return of the Jedi. Similarly, McDiarmid also voiced Palpatine in Star Wars Rebels Season 4, which was set years before Palpatine had died once, much less twice. Despite this, Palpatine’s return to the franchise remains pure speculation at this time, and McDiarmid is not officially attached to any current Star Wars projects.
Source: Reddit
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