Star Wars Needs a Palpatine Movie or TV Series

When it was first revealed that Emperor Palpatine / Darth Sidious was returning for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, it was a thrill for longtime Star Wars fans. Rise of Skywalker was going to bring the Skywalker Saga to a close, and Palpatine’s story was deeply intertwined with that of the Skywalker family: it was only fitting that he should be there for the final chapter. However, the version of Palpatine that Rise of Skywalker ultimately delivered wasn’t very satisfying for many fans, and arguably raised more questions than it answered. Now that the Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker novelization has filled in more details, it’s clear Star Wars needs a full-fledged Palpatine movie or series.

If you haven’t been keeping track of things on the Star Wars front, the new Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker novelization has revealed some pretty big story points about Emperor Palpatineand how he survived events of The Return of The Jedi. As it turns out, Palpatine didn’t father a son who then fathered Rey: Rey is the daughter of a failed Palpatine clone. Indeed, the book reveals that Palpatine had a array of clone bodies created by his Sith loyalists on Exegol. It also reveals that when Darth Vader tossed Palpatine down into the Death Star, the Emperor used the techniques of his master Darth Plagueis to transfer his consciousness into one of those clone bodies. Unfortunately, none of those clone bodies was ever perfected, and would eventually break down, hence the sickly version of Palpatine we saw in Rise of Skywalker.

Naturally, Star Wars fans have learned the explanation behind Palpatine’s return in The Rise of Skywalker and come to one main consensus of opinion: “Why was none of this conveyed in the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy films?!”

It’s an increasingly loud discussion now being had within the fandom. As the Star Wars franchise continues to expand, more and more we’re seeing key story details left to tie-in comics and novels, while the main “Episode” films act as more of a broad overview. In the case of Kylo Ren / Ben Solo, the details of his backstory are small enough for a comic perhaps, but Palpatine’s story is one that extends across the entire Skywalker Saga – and beyond it. We’ve already detailed how the upcoming Star Wars: The High Republic line practically invites the story of Darth Plagueis recruiting and training Palpatine to become Darth Sidious – so The Emperor’s story arguably isn’t even done yet.

A Palpatine standalone movie or limited series would therefore act as the ultimate interquel story for the entire Star Wars saga. It would connect the High Republic to the Prequel Trilogy with the story of how Palpatine learned to cheat death; it would also tie the events of the Clone Wars and Palpatine’s clone army initiative much closer to his eventual “return” in The Rise of Skwyalker. Most importantly, the movie or series would fill in some much-needed blanks about how Palpatine survived in the Sequel Trilogy era, hopping from clone to clone, while also projecting his consciousness into the Snoke bodies he used as alter-egos. In short: Palpatine is the character that can plug a lot of holes in Star Wars canon, if he’s simply given proper focus.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker arrives on digital March 17th and on Blu-ray, DVD, Ultra 4K on March 31st.