Disclaimer: This post contains mild spoilers for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

I’m sure at some point in the whole process of seeing the trailers for the next film, we all probably tilted our heads and thought… “how in the hell is Emperor Palpatine back?” The infamous Sith Lord had originally met his end at the hands of Darth Vader in the final minutes of Return of the Jedi way back in the ‘80s, but it looks like J.J. Abrams had somehow given him an extra lease on life — mostly without any real explanation.

But what did actor Ian McDiarmid know about this whole thing? George Lucas is known for having tons of ideas down for the world-building as well as known for having his ideas thrown out the window by Disney. So, what did he have to tell McDiarmid about his character?

“I thought I was dead!” McDiarmid told Digital Spy. “I thought he was dead. Because when we did Return of the Jedi, and I was thrown down that chute to Galactic Hell, he was dead. And I said, ‘Oh, does he come back?’ And [George] said, ‘No, he’s dead.’ So I just accepted that. But then, of course, I didn’t know I was going to be doing the prequels, so in a sense he wasn’t dead, because we went back to revisit him when he was a young man. But I was totally surprised by this.”

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As has become clear now, Disney and Lucasfilm haven’t really had a big plan in mind. I mean, they may have had ideas about character arcs, but as far as the specifics go, it’s clear they have been making it up since day one, with no idea being out of the picture until it’s been fully executed.

Personally, I do think dragging the Emperor into the Sequel Trilogy did the franchise a huge disservice, but there’s no use crying over spilled milk, right? As it stands, Disney is moving forward whether we like it or not, and it will have the benefit of not necessarily being connected to what we already know.

What do you think of McDiarmid’s comments? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

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SOURCE: Digital Spy