Entertainment

What Palpatine’s Return Could Mean for Star Wars Episode IX:

Is Darth Sidious Really Back?

Editor Ethan Miller

By now, it’s no secret that the first trailer for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker has dropped. While it doesn’t ultimately reveal much, there is a certain moment in the trailer that has some heads turned. That, of course, is the ending shot, and more importantly, that familiar laugh of Emperor Sheev Palpatine, also known as Darth Sidious.

Right before the title drop, a shot of our heroes looking over the remains of the Death Star plays out on-screen. While at first, it seems like a simple bone for Star Wars fans to trigger a sense of nostalgia, that shot could mean much more than many realise. When The Force Awakens was being penned by Writer Michael Arndt, one of the many ideas floating around was to have a run in with the underwater ruins of the Death Star. The original protagonist, Kira (who would later be changed to Rey), would have sought out the Death Star remains to find a map of Luke’s whereabouts. Many issues during the production of The Force Awakens affected the movie’s direction drastically, including the change in director, leading to the script to be rewritten, including entire characters changing (like Phasma becoming female and Poe being written into the second act instead of dying in the Jakku crash) and the overarching plot of the series taking a different turn.

That scene in The Rise of Skywalker, though. It seems like a few of Arndt’s ideas are returning, which is an interesting prospect indeed, but even more important is the implications of Palpatine’s potential return. The main villain of the main trilogy and prequels is back in at least some form in Episode IX, but is he back in full? The answer might be as simple as it may seem.

Many have criticised Snoke as being a weak villain with little backstory, his death in The Last Jedi definitely didn’t have the heavy weight that characters like Luke and Han did, so bringing back Palpatine might be a way to right the wrongs that Snoke brought, but that honestly seems like a bit of a cop-out. However, there is also that looming possibility that Palpatine might not be back in the flesh. He could return as a part of a Force Vision showing what could’ve happened if Luke and Vader didn’t put the Emperor down, as Rey isn’t a stranger to having various visions due to the Force. Or he could return as a Force Ghost to haunt Rey for a variety of reasons. The Force is a powerful entity, after all. The Dark Side has all kinds of mysterious bonuses, so him returning wouldn’t be all too surprising. In Legends (formerly known as the Expanded Universe), reviving the dead with the Dark Side of the Force wasn’t unheard of, being called Dark Transfer. It wouldn’t be the first time that Disney tapped into the Legends pool of wild ideas for inspiration during the Sequel Trilogy and even Star Wars Rebels.

Regardless of the reason, Palpatine is bound to have some impact on the plot. His laugh is quite a shocking revelation, something that some fans have wanted but few have actually predicted. Is Palpatine the big bad all along? Will he make his grand return? There’s no denying that Snoke’s death has left a spot open in the villain department. Only time will tell, however, as Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker airs in December.