30 Greatest Star Wars Characters
10. The Emperor
Ian McDermid's performance as the Emperor in 1983's Return of the Jedi was so good that they had to get him back all over again for the prequels, where he played the same character!
Over the course of the Original Trilogy, Sheev Palpatine only appears for about a dozen or so minutes, but he made one heck of an impression. McDermid plays the villain in the most theatrical manner possible, hunched over and hands raised in 'evil old man' fashion. Apply four hours' worth of makeup, a sinister voice and an electrifying use of the Force, and you're left with the second-most iconic Star Wars villain of all time.
It's also worth noting that, although the prequels failed in certain respects, McDermid was consistently one of their biggest highlights. He showcased an entirely different kind of evil in those films, illustrating Darth Sidious' rise to power in the most despicable manner: turning the Republic's one hope into their greatest enemy.