Star Wars: 7 Ways That Palpatine Could Return For Rise Of Skywalker

Just before Ian McDiarmid’s iconic laughter overtakes the trailer, the camera holds on a shot of what appears to be Rey and company stumbling upon at least a piece of the wreckage from the second Death Star, the same Death Star which the Emperor was on in Return of the Jedi.

This is interesting for a number of reasons.

Number one, it means that whatever planet they’re on must be very near Endor (or it could even be Endor) in order for the wreckage to have wound up there, seeing as that’s where the Death Star was when it got blown to bits. But perhaps more importantly, it means that Palpatine may have found a way to survive within the structure.

As has been covered extensively in the prequels, as well as the comics and books of the last few years (we’ll get to it in much more detail in just a few clicks), Palpatine was always kind of obsessed with beating death.

He employed many different techniques over the years, so it wouldn’t be all that surprising to find out that he had uploaded his DNA or core memories to the second Death Star, and this is how he makes his return.