As we are all aware, Palpatine returned—somehow—in The Rise of Skywalker. The “somehow” involved a bunch of handwaving about clones and secrets and honestly, does it matter? He came back.
But Star Wars seems to think we need to understand. I do not need to understand! Somehow, it happened! We don’t need The Bad Batch to veer into a story about what certain Kaminoans did with all that cloning expertise. And we certainly don’t need Palpatine to show up in Obi-Wan Kenobi and evilsplain his plans to us.
But he could. Ian McDiarmid said so.
Speaking to Metro, McDiarmid said:
“I think I have to accept that, thanks to my ungrateful granddaughter, my annihilation was finally final. [But] of course [Darth] Vader is back in the new [Obi-Wan Kenobi] television series, so I suppose it’s not impossible that one day his mentor might be discovered once again skulking in the shadows.”
It’s not impossible. But, as Star Wars News Net pointed out, he’s talking about this in the lead-up to Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Star Wars does nothing by accident. Maybe it’s just idle chatter, but maybe it’s hint-dropping of the highest order. Obviously Star Wars fans are going to pick up on this; obviously we’re going to speculate.
Maybe ol’ Sheev will just show up briefly, which would make sense; we are in the rise of his Empire, and his presence is felt (though he’s rarely seen) in Rebels. But the end of The Bad Batch‘s first season is enough to make a person worry that this might be more needless backstory to Palpatine’s evil plans for resurrection. Obi-Wan Kenobi isn’t a show like Rebels that exists in its own part of the galaxy; Kenobi is as closely tied to the Skywalker Saga as anyone. But he also deserves his own story, not one that’s trying to tie up loose threads about Palpatine’s unwelcome resurrection.
Clone Wars-era Obi-Wan is a rich and fascinating character, and there’s so much possibility in a story that explores who he becomes—and how he lives—in the wake of Anakin’s turn to the Dark Side. You don’t just get over that, you know? Not least while you’re trying to protect your now-evil former-apprentice’s love child in the backwaters of Tatooine. Who he’s been and who he is in A New Hope don’t exactly line up, and there’s plenty of storytelling promise in showing how he grew and changed.
We’ll find out which way it all goes when Obi-Wan Kenobi premieres on May 25th.
Star Wars: Episode III.VII – The Return of Things You Know – Part MMCCXXXVIII
Gratned, I was already used to the idea of a ‘somehow’ Palpatine return because of the Dark Empire comic series (RIP Tom Veitch :( :( ) so it wasn’t QUITE as out of left field.
Also I freaking love Ian McDiarmid so very much so I can’t completely complain about seeing more of him. I didn’t mind – in principle – the fact that he was in Rise of Skywalker or had weird Sith alchemy contingency plans (I DO mind the fact that it was from all accounts COMPLETELY out of left field) and I think there was the potential for some neat stuff regarding how Rey came to be, her as an anti-Chosen One, an ultimately choosing her own family. (I don’t actually hate what Rise of Skywalker was TRYING to do). How lucky for us that John Williams gave us a theme for Rey that was actually musically related to Palpatine’s so it looks like it all fits together, at least when you listen to just the soundtracks hahaha.
Anyway :)
I’ve also heard some other intriguing rumors (which I won’t spoil) that I am more excited about, but I will say that if they do it well, I won’t mind seeing Palpatine show up, in part because I LIKE seeing the explanations. But I do admit the tendency for SW fans (and creators) to get very bogged down in the minutiae and connections so nobody can have their own story (ahem, Boba Fett). I still have fun with it though.
I mean, John Williams is coming back so….it will sound good at least :D
I don’t want to jump on the whole “Disney ruined Star Wars” train because Lucasfilm still makes Star Wars. They might have Disney backing now, but it’s still Lucasfilm. But this inability for the franchise to move on from the Skywalkers since the Disney deal is killing me. I liked The Force Awakens, loved The Last Jedi, and thought both Solo and Rogue One were good. But since then? Basically since TLJ and Solo got such backlash… it’s all Skywalker all the time in both film and TV. I’ve been a fan for 40 years… and even I’m starting to tire of Lucasfilm being mired in the past.
Palpatine is the Star Wars universe’s equivalent of bubble gum that gets stuck on your shoe, and just won’t come off no matter how hard you try.
He doesn’t need to be in everything. And every Star Wars project doesn’t need to shoehorn in every character in the universe, whether they fit the story or not.
One assumes that Mr McDiarmid is trolling audiences and that The Emperor will be limited to a background detail – this is, after all, OBI-WAN, not THE PALPATINE HOUR (Complete with 1 Minute Hate).
I’ll open with… I love Ian McDiarmid. He stole every scene he was in in the prequels and wasn’t terrible in Rise of Skywalker, which is a miracle given what he had to work with. RotJ goes without saying, naturally.
And I don’t have problems with seeing more of him in an era when it makes sense for him to be around.
But as other people have pointed out, this is an Obi-Wan Kenobi (and Vader, presumably) show. I’m fine for Palpatine to be around. I will not be impressed if it turns into a fan-wank “look, this is how he turned up in Rise, DO YOU LOVE US AGAIN NOW?” plot.
My brother has already given up on all things Star Wars after getting annoyed with the fan-service in Mandalorian Season 2. I don’t want to do the same. Please don’t give me a reason to.
Kenobi series is about Obi Wan after THE REPUBLIC falls not the Empire. This isn’t Clone Wars time during the Republic. Of course, Palpatine can show up, he is the current Emperor. Ben joins the ghost crowd long before Palpatine dies. I have seen this mistake on this site before.
Since anakin and padme were married, Luke isn’t a “love child”.
Right, I want to comment that this is a scenario where it actually does makes sense for Palpatine to show up here (in something like a Bad Batch type cameo where you see him addressing the public) in at least some context as he is actually the one in charge now. And if Vader is a character who gets his own story arc in this show, then I would also expect to see them interacting. Doesn’t mean he has to be the main character or take the spotlight but I would expect to at least see evidence of him.
Does Obi-Wan have to encounter him? Maybe not…that, I do think would be hard to pull off.
For the record: I would have been fine with Mandalorian/BoBF not having anything to do with Skywalkers or Palpatine (although I don’t mind that they did – and I think Luke’s inclusion in Mando Season 2 was tastefully done) and I think that is a strength of the first season. But I also don’t totally mind that – especially given the timeline – there are hints that something else is going on even if the characters don’t totally get what it is (hence the New Republic pilot finding suspicious activity and trying to connect the dots). It’s still mostly their own story playing against this larger backdrop they are occasionally brushing against. (BoBF did this in a bit more of a jarring way.)
I think there is a case to be made that perhaps Grogu never had to be a Jedi in the first place, and so the aspect of the plot involving needing to find a Jedi to send him to could have been omitted but I do think it at least makes sense they would be running into hints of the First Order.
But for Kenobi I absolutely expect to see something involving Anakin and the Skywalkers. The Kenobi show itself in concept predates a lot of this stuff and it was just due to delays so in a way it’s kind of unfortunate due to timing that we already got a bunch of stuff on Tatooine or brushing up against the ‘saga’, etc. Kenobi is the series where I would actually be disappointed if they didn’t as he is pretty intimately involved with that and views protecting Luke as his mission, not to mention potentially communing with Qui-Gon and learning more about the Force and personally knew – and was betrayed by/fooled by – Palpatine.
Anyway, TFA is still and probably always will be my least favorite Star Wars movie, I actually have quite come to enjoy TLJ, and Rise of Skywalker is kind of campy fun and it has a few story/emotional/thematic beats I really enjoy (given the direction the narrative had already taken but it definitely has issues) but I guess if they already had to throw together this slapdash plot, then, well, yeah, I actually would kind of hope that we would see at least some hints of it even if it’s basically a retcon. But in that sense I agree that it shouldn’t be the main focus of the story as there are many other things to mine as it pertains to Kenobi during this time period and I do want it to be more than about having to justify the sequels.