Daisy Ridley Teases Rey's Confrontation With the Emperor in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

With just a week away until the release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, fans are starting to learn more about the mysterious ending to the franchise that's spanned the last four decades. And everyone is eager to learn more about the franchise's big bad, as Emperor Palpatine is going to make a major return in the film. But the circumstances surrounding his return are being kept under tight wraps, as the character hasn't been seen since Darth Vader hurled him to his death at the end of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.

Actress Daisy Ridley, who reprises her role as Rey in the new movie, teased her character's epic confrontation with Palpatine during a new interview with USA Today.

"When J.J. [Abrams] first told me the Emperor was back, I guess I had all the questions that a lot of other people have," Ridley explained. "And then I read the script and was like, 'OK, this is (expletive) awesome."

She also said, "Really, he's the ultimate bad guy of Star Wars, and for this film to have worked, the Emperor needed to be there."

Abrams himself stated that it wouldn't make sense if Palpatine didn't resurface in this film, given that his presence is felt in the previous trilogies of the franchise.

"If you look at the nine movies, and you look at that character, it's not that shocking when you think about it: who he is, what he talks about, what his ultimate game plan was," Abrams explained. "The fact that he, in a trilogy of trilogies, would disappear and never be referred to again or reappear in any way is more odd than not. There's an inevitability to what we did."

Ridley previously teased his return during an interview with IGN earlier this year.

"He's the biggest baddie in Star Wars history. Now that we've done the story, I'm like, it couldn't have happened any other way," Ridley said. "It had to be that. But he's very instrumental to the plot of the film. It's not just like he appears again; it's all explained."

She added, "I think it's awesome. When we were doing it, I kept going, 'Oh my god, this is so cool.' And that's nice to be in a film where you're actually saying, 'Oh my god, this is so cool.'"

Fans will get to see how the Emperor returns when Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker premieres in theaters on Friday, December 20th.