Star Wars Fans Are Livid Over Emperor Palpatine Being A Clone In Rise Of Skywalker

Months after the theatrical release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker a startling and unexpected revelation was made as the official novelization of the film confirmed that cloning technology was used for his revival. The novel doesn't go into explicit details about what transpired in Palpatine's 30-year absence from the galaxy far, far away, but the book does lean more heavily into the mechanical devices that allowed him to "live," while still remaining vague enough as to not reveal all of the story's mysteries. Naturally this news has been met with derision from many fans who have taken to Twitter to question it and lament it, we've collected some of the best replies below!

"All the vials were empty of liquid save one, which was nearly depleted," the book reads of the scene in which Kylo Ren meets Palpatine on Exegol. "Kylo peered closer. He'd seen this apparatus before, too, when he'd studied the Clone Wars as a boy. The liquid flowing into the living nightmare before him was fighting a losing battle to sustain the Emperor's putrid flesh."

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker novelization will hit shelves on March 17th, with copies having been sold at this weekend's C2E2. Pre-orders are live on Amazon now. The film hits Digital HD on March 17th and 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD on March 31st. Additional details about the release can be found here.