3. Ian McDermid Replaces Clive Revill - Return Of The Jedi
Lucasfilm
Ian McDermid's performance as the evil Emperor in 1983's Return of the Jedi was electric (both literally and figuratively speaking), so when he was asked to reprise the part 17 years later in the Episode I: The Phantom Menace, fans had few complaints. He was just evil, and though his screen time in Episode VI would only amount to just over six minutes, McDermid's experience in theatre ensured that Darth Vader's master would persist long after the credits began to roll.
But did you know McDermid wasn't the first to play the character? In the theatrical release of The Empire Strikes Back, it was Clive Revill who played Darth Sidious, providing the voiceover for a computer generated image of Vader's master.
Needless to say Revill didn't return for the sequel, and subsequent releases of Empire have all replaced the ghostly figure of the Emperor with one of McDermid instead.
In any case, Revill only had one minute to make an impression on audiences, and though he did an admirable job first time around, it's McDermid who everyone thinks of when the Emperor appears.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
