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“Wars” fans got a surprise over the weekend when it was officially announced that Ian McDiarmid would reprise his role as Palpatine/The Emperor in this December’s “Rise of Skywalker”.
Don’t be thinking this was a last minute tack-on either, according to Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy it was always the plan to have the popular villain return in the sequel trilogy.
“This has been in the blueprint for a long time, yeah. We had not landed on exactly how we might do that, but yes, it was always [to be in Episode IX],” Kennedy told Yahoo’s Kevin Polowy.
Kathleen Kennedy says Palpatine’s return was in the blueprint for a long time. “We had not landed on exactly how we might do that, but it was always [to be in Episode IX].” pic.twitter.com/SDqqKHgJ7C
— Kevin Polowy (@djkevlar) April 12, 2019
During a 20th Anniversary panel for George Lucas’s prequel “The Phantom Menace” at Star Wars Celebration last weekend, McDiarmid expressed as much surprise to see Palpatine return for the new film as the fans.
The actor never thought he’d be slapping on the old-age make-up again.
“No, because as you know, Darth Vader chucked me and I thought that was the end.”
“I was under the assumption that we’d never see him again,” McDiarmid teased later. “I guess that’s how it will remain.”
According to the actor, George Lucas had never intended to bring back Palpatine; the new brass at Lucasfilm, however, seemingly had different plans.
