9 Canon Changes That Would Make Star Wars Instantly Better

There will be those out there who would be quick to rip Episode IX's strange mega return right out of canon altogether if they had the chance. And you can't exactly blame them.

The way Emperor Palpatine's eventual comeback was handled was just plain lazy, with J. J. Abrams and co. simply telling fans out of the gate that "The dead speak!" before trying to justify Sidious' return by noting how he'd actually been pulling the strings from the shadows for years all along.

You know, after transferring his spirit into a cloned version of himself. As you do.

These developments actually wouldn't have been anywhere near as jarring had there been even a few hints and teases at Palpatine still being a force in the galaxy throughout the prior two sequel Episodes, though.

Something as simple as hinting at Supreme Leader Snoke being manipulated by or answering to a dark force from afar, or maybe even having Palpatine's voice pop up inside Kylo Ren's head in the wake of cutting down the strandcast in Episode VIII, would have worked a treat.

Even the smallest of suggestions that the prior six films' big bad had found a way to cheat death in the almost five hours of screentime that preceded Episode IX would have made his re-emergence feel like it wasn't just randomly thrown in as an attempt to make even more dollar off of excessive nostalgia.