Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker brought back Emperor Palpatine, and while we suspected that he might be a clone, it was the novelization for the movie that
finally confirmed it.
During a recent appearance at C2E2 in Chicago, actor Ian McDiarmid talked more about the iconic villain's return in the Skywalker Saga's final chapter, and revealed that an earlier version of the screenplay was going to see Palpatine refer to the fact that he was indeed inhabiting a clone body.
"At one point, the script had the line - in that first scene, with Adam [Driver] - when he says, 'You’re a clone.' And I said, in that original script, which is no longer with us, 'More than a clone. Less than a man,'" the actor reveals. Needless to say, this would have provided fans with the answers they wanted from The Rise of Skywalker, but Lucasfilm instead left it somewhat ambiguous.
The Emperor's spirit inhabiting a cloned body is a really cool idea, but not one the movie ended up taking full advantage of. Whether he was inside the body of Supreme Leader Snoke or just controlling him from afar is another big mystery, and one we now have to hope will be addressed in a comic book or novel.
Check out McDiarmid's comments about Palpatine being a clone in the player below:
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after watching Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker!
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