Star Wars: 7 Ways That Palpatine Could Return For Rise Of Skywalker
Darkness rises, and light to meet it.
After years of waiting, the time is finally upon us. No longer must we mortals merely refer to the next and final instalment of the Star Wars saga as Episode IX. It is now officially Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and we’ve even seen some killer footage from it.
The trailer is stunningly great, and has more than enough to entice fans from just about every subset of the fandom - what with that jaw-dropping sequence of Rey jumping over Kylo Ren’s ship, Luke Skywalker’s excellent and emotional narration, and even shots of Kylo kicking absolute ass on the battlefield with the hilt of his lightsaber. The biggest reveal of the entire trailer though, is not something that is directly shown, but heard.
Just before the title is revealed, Luke says “No one is ever really gone” and its sentiment is immediately twisted on its head as Emperor Palpatine’s iconic maniacal laugh plays. It’s a jaw-dropping moment; one that has huge implications for the film, and it left viewers immediately asking: "How is this possible!?"
Not to fear, we have you covered. Here are all of the ways that the evil Emperor Palpatine could be making his malevolent return to a galaxy far, far away.
7. He Never Died
The easiest way to bring Palpatine back for Episode IX might simply be to reveal that he never actually died.
At the end of Return of the Jedi, Luke Skywalker’s act of sacrifice, of setting his weapon aside in favor of taking a peaceful stand, won over the heart of his father, Darth Vader, leading to Vader throwing Palpatine down a reactor shaft on the second Death Star.
At the time, it appeared as if this had killed the Emperor, what with him screaming all the way down and the subsequent explosion.
However, audiences never got confirmation that the character was in fact deceased following this. He wouldn’t be the first Sith to survive getting thrown down a shaft - even Darth Maul got cut in half before falling and still managed to survive it.
J.J. Abrams and Kathleen Kennedy made a point of consistently referencing the fact that the former and co-writer Chris Terrio used some of Lucas’ original plans for this concluding chapter, and this sounds exactly like the kind of thing Lucas might have originally included.