Star Wars: Ian McDiarmid Defends Palpatine’s Controversial Comeback
Ian McDiarmid explains why it’s not such a big deal that Palpatine “somehow” returned in Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker.
Actor Ian McDiarmid doesn’t see the problem with Emperor Palpatine’s return in Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker.
In the film, which marked the third and final installment of the Star Wars sequel trilogy, Ian McDiarmid made a surprising return as Emperor Palpatine. The character had seemingly been vanquished by Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and Darth Vader (David Prowse & James Earl Jones) in the original trilogy, and he hadn’t been featured in the previous installments of the sequels. His return in The Rise of Skywalker and absence in the prior films was also not given much context, beyond a line of dialogue declaring, “Somehow, Palpatine returned.” The line has since become a meme with Star Wars fans who often poke fun at the bizarre way the iconic villain came back.
Speaking with Empire in honor of the prequel trilogy’s 25th anniversary, Ian McDiarmid responded to the criticism over Palpatine’s resurrection. While there may not have been a lengthy explanation given on-screen for the return, McDiarmid still feels that it’s in line with Star Wars lore and the character’s backstory. The actor agreed that it definitely seemed like Palpatine died in the original trilogy and he didn’t see the need to question it when J.J. Abrams invited him to return for The Rise of Skywalker. However, with that said, McDiarmid felt that his character would’ve had a contingency plan for his previous demise, and his experience with cloning was all the context the actor needed to buy the return.
“A lot of people said it was ridiculous,” McDiarmid explained, per Empire. “Of course, he was dead at the end of Return Of The Jedi! And frankly, I think George [Lucas] thought he’d killed me too. But J.J. [Abrams] thought it would be a good idea – I wasn’t going to argue with him… I felt that Palpatine always had a plan B – probably a plan C, D, E, and F as well. And he was an expert in cloning, so…”
On what he enjoyed most about his return to the franchise in 2019 for The Rise of Skywalker, the actor added, “The thing that I’m most pleased about, and you know, this only came to a head when they asked me to come back for The Rise of Skywalker, is that every single evil act in all of the Star Wars franchise is either directly or indirectly down to that character. That is total evil, and that’s strangely satisfying as an arc. I do feel fortunate to have been able to do it – and other villains of cinema now have to compete with that.”
