Director J.J. Abrams has been running the media circuit for “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” and has revealed why it made sense to bring back Emperor Palpatine for the new film.
New: Abrams told Uproxx that there were always plans to bring back Emperor Palpatine even though he is supposed to be dead.
- “Well, when you look at this as nine chapters of a story, perhaps the weirder thing would be if Palpatine didn’t return,” Abrams said. “You just look at what he talks about, who he is, how important he is, what the story is — strangely, his absence entirely from the third trilogy would be conspicuous.”
- Abrams said he and “Star Wars” screenwriter Larry Kasdan looked into the “Star Wars” archive to figure out what they wanted to do with the new movie.
- “That’s not to say there was a bible and we knew what happens at every step. But when Larry Kasdan and I worked on ‘The Force Awakens,’ we didn’t do it in a vacuum. We purposely looked at what came before.”
The context: The first teaser to “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” ended with the sinister laugh of Emperor Palpatine, the villain from the prequel and original “Star Wars” trilogy. That single moment was the first time we were told Palpatine would return to the franchise.
- Since then, a poster with Palpatine’s face and a separate trailer with his dialogue suggest Sheev Palpatine is coming back to the film series.