STAR WARS: Ian McDiarmid On The Possible Return Of Emperor Palpatine

STAR WARS: Ian McDiarmid On The Possible Return Of Emperor Palpatine

Could Palpatine have survived that fall at the end of Return Of The Jedi? McDiarmid doesn't think so, but says he is interested in the "future development" of the character. Read on to find out what the veteran actor had to say to SciFi Now..

By MarkCassidy - Mar 27, 2013 10:03 PM EST
Filed Under: Star Wars
Source: SciFi Now

The Emperor tends to have his thunder stolen by Darth Vader a little when the great movie villains are being discussed, but for my money he is right up there with his apprentice. Ian McDiarmid played the character brilliantly in 4 (5 if you count his brief appearance as a hologram in Empire) movies, even making parts of the prequel trilogy bearable! Although Palpatine met a dramatic end at the hands of Vader in Return Of The Jedi, some fans are eager for his return and have wondered if he might somehow be a part of the new batch of films coming our way. Unfortunately McDiarmid doesn't sound optimistic about that, but he certainly seems eager to get those black robes on again in some capacity.



“Yes, I’m sort of interested in any future development he might have. Unfortunately, as you probably know, he died at the end of Episode VI, Vader sent him to cosmic hell so he’s not going to feature in any of the new Disney ones, I don’t think. On the other hand they’ve got lots of exciting ideas for spin-offs about separate characters and so on, and then there is the television series which George has talked about and decided to make into being for a number of years, and that takes place between Episodes III and IV when the Emperor is very much alive. So I think he probably does have a future."


For the full interview click the link below.









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ahhmynuts
ahhmynuts - 3/27/2013, 10:33 PM
i didnt know he was thinkin of doing a television series
santoanderson
santoanderson - 3/27/2013, 10:36 PM
I don't want anything from the prequels appearing in the new films. No Hayden Christensen, no Sam Jackson, no Jar Jar [frick]ing Binks. I hope JJ pretends the prequels never existed. With that said I liked Ian as the Emperor in ROTJ, but his role in the prequels (and the fact that he got tossed down an energy shaft and exploded) makes me less interested in seeing Palpatine in the new movies.
killerkooljames
killerkooljames - 3/27/2013, 10:47 PM
Yep I don't want any prequel actors in the new films. Maybe an Obi Wan spin off?
RidiculousFanBoyDemands
RidiculousFanBoyDemands - 3/27/2013, 10:49 PM
Umm even if he fell last I checked the place blew up. I don't think he would have had the time to magically get himself out of the reactor hobble onto a ship (where thousands of people are panicking to escape) in time to survive.

Now, he could appear as a ghost and haunt the shit out of Luke and Leia's kids.
elcaballerooscuro92
elcaballerooscuro92 - 3/27/2013, 10:56 PM
they could just bring him in spirit form like the jedis
sephiroth211
sephiroth211 - 3/27/2013, 11:13 PM
He was always this snivelling and very nonthreatening character to me. I want a badass Sith Lord.
JredTheRed
JredTheRed - 3/27/2013, 11:19 PM
CLONE!
Panoramacon
Panoramacon - 3/27/2013, 11:20 PM
In the early 9 or 12 episode outline, we weren't going to see the Emperor until the end. It would totally be keeping with Lucas' habit of recycling old ideas and alter Jedi (yet again) and say that the Emperor didn't die in Jedi (in the outline he provided and assuming Disney goes along with it). It wouldn't essentially change the story since the point of previous six movies as the fall and redemption of Vader, and the destruction of the empire not the death of Palpatine technically. The new movies need a villain and the mysteries of the Dark Side is something none of the movies have really explored with any depth.

There really are not that many choices a writer can take if he wants to expand the story from 6 movies to 9 or 12 with it feeling like it's being stretched for no real reason. But "bringing back" the emperor and getting into the details of the Sith and the Dark Side is certainly one possibility that wouldn't feel too much like stretching out the story to milk some more cash out of his cow. Of course you can do this without bringing back another character from the previous movies but hey, what's one more at this point.
relentless1
relentless1 - 3/27/2013, 11:30 PM
the emperor was the best part of the 6 movies we have already but i dont think we will or should be seeing any more of him in any new films
THRILLHO
THRILLHO - 3/27/2013, 11:33 PM
Sometimes you gotta put on some shades and be a bad ass sith lord.
BlackPhillip
BlackPhillip - 3/27/2013, 11:50 PM
Didn't he survive somehow according to the books?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palpatine#Star_Wars_literature
RamonSuarez
RamonSuarez - 3/27/2013, 11:51 PM
Let him reappear as a Ghost like Obi Won or Yoda. He could be the force behind the re-emergence of the Sith by guiding many Jedi candidates towards the Darkside. His major endgame could be the cloning of a new body for him to enter his spirit into.
SnapperCarr
SnapperCarr - 3/28/2013, 12:02 AM
I'd actually be fine if Jar Jar Binks returned. To get killed off of course.
NeoBaggins
NeoBaggins - 3/28/2013, 12:08 AM
He's really versed in whats going on in STAR WARS. I would have took him for an actor that just does his role and has very little knowledge about the ins and outs of the story and developments.
pesmerga44
pesmerga44 - 3/28/2013, 1:17 AM
Guys we will learn in the new movie that Palpatine was never the real Sith lord only the apprentice of the true Sith lord. We will come to find out the evil sadistic mastermind of the rise of the Empire was Jar Jar Binks "cue lightning". Who was it that granted the Senate creation of the clone army none other then Jar Jar. Lucas was one clever bastard he tricked us into believing Jar Jar was only a mentally retarded racist stereotypical alien rabbit but was in fact the greatest of all Sith lords.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qAKXK_aLeA

Go to 1:29 secs you will learn the truth.
BackwardGalaxy
BackwardGalaxy - 3/28/2013, 6:26 AM
They can't get far enough away from the prequels as far as I am concerned.
JohnnyKrypton
JohnnyKrypton - 3/28/2013, 6:27 AM
Nah, bad idea to bring him back. His death was what redeemed Anakin. If they were going to bring in a clone version, he should be young.
Timerider84
Timerider84 - 3/28/2013, 6:30 AM
Luke will probably end up training his sister's kids, one becomes good, the other influenced by the Emperor's spirit voice, beyond the grave. Luke is then killed by the evil twin, and the good twin will have to bring the other twin back from the dark side, with the help of their former Jedi Master, Luke Skywalker as a force ghost. We will probably see another alien creature that Luke already trained, to help with the training of Luke's niece.
Vaportrail
Vaportrail - 3/28/2013, 7:23 AM



AND SO IS DARTH MAUL.
YEAH, CLONE WARS. I'M TALKING TO YOU.
CrashTest
CrashTest - 3/28/2013, 7:39 AM
Come on people haven't we learned that anyone can survive anything? Darth Maul? Vader? Should I continue? But if he did Mace Windu better be alive as well.
Danbojohnj
Danbojohnj - 3/28/2013, 7:43 AM
I still don't buy it that he died.Luke fell down a similar shaft and survived in Empire.
SCURVYDOG619
SCURVYDOG619 - 3/28/2013, 8:15 AM
The Emperor...? Oh, you mean Anakin's REAL father,Palpatine....

Ceejay
Ceejay - 3/28/2013, 10:34 AM
These films are being made more ridiculous as they go along.

It's one thing the Emperor being thrown down an energy shaft in ROTJ and exploding. But when they turned him into a lightsaber wielding acrobat in the Prequels and made him have so much power that he could levitate multiple senate pods and throw them at Yoda who couldn't handle it.

How is this the same person who can't levitate himself when thrown down a shaft, does he weigh more than a senate pod?

Every Star Wars film made after The Empire Strikes back is pure spectacle and lacking any common sense whatsoever, they're made for merchandise sales only.
Durango95
Durango95 - 3/28/2013, 11:13 AM
WTF the Pope is a Sith Lord?!?!
TheJester
TheJester - 3/28/2013, 11:15 AM
I have no hope for this franchise. I wont pay shit to see it in the theater. If the fans would do the same, maybe they just might get the point, but hey , we are at a loss when the public buys the merchandise in droves.....

No one [frick]ing gives a shit other than numbers, guys. THINK ABOUT IT.
Fogs
Fogs - 3/28/2013, 11:56 AM
I trust JJ Abrams. Look at what he accomplished with Trek. It was a very good reboot IMO.
thatcoldblackcloud
thatcoldblackcloud - 3/28/2013, 12:11 PM
Shitty idea. Star Wars, the first trilogy is a classic and should be left alone. Anything else that has or will come from it is and will always be SHIT.
Fogs
Fogs - 3/28/2013, 12:20 PM
^^ I agree the new trilogy wasn't good (ep III had its moments) but it's a rich universe that can spawn great stories IF DONE RIGHT.
FOOM
FOOM - 3/28/2013, 1:03 PM
Totally agree with Ceejay here. Believe it or not.
voxen
voxen - 3/28/2013, 2:40 PM
In the extended universe of the books he is cloned and does make some trouble for them later on. I hope they dont follow the extended universe at all other then to name the children right and to bring in a few of the characters they created but none of the plot lines. I didnt like how dark it got towards the end and I dont like how they started killing off all the good characters so I hope the films keep Anakin Solo alive. That said I do hope they bring Palpatine back via a clone. After all he was the one that arranged all the cloning in the prequals.
NeoBaggins
NeoBaggins - 3/28/2013, 4:19 PM
@Ceejay Palpatine can hurl senate booths across the room, but not rise out of the shaft because George Lucas created the prequels as if he himself had never seen STAR WARS before. I'm glad someone else is doing the films and no longer in the [frick]ing clone war era.
GnomeSauce
GnomeSauce - 3/28/2013, 10:05 PM
He should remain dead in the main story arc. But I would like to see him as Palpatine/Emperor in either a spin-off or TV series. I always liked the way McDiarmid played the role(s).
LancerEvo
LancerEvo - 3/28/2013, 10:13 PM
Hmm... Dark Empire arc anyone? I'd love for it to happen just to see Boba Fett's escape from the Sarlacc pit, and I suppose Luke's brief forray into the dark side of the Force operating as a "mole".

But, probably not gonna happen. A guy can dream...
AUSSYACE
AUSSYACE - 3/29/2013, 2:56 AM
Just DIE Already...
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