Before (somehow) returning in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, there were apparently plans to bring Emperor Palpatine back much earlier in a live-action TV series. According to the Emperor himself, Ian McDiarmid, George Lucas had the idea before he sold Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012.
Palpatine TV Series
While speaking at Spacecon 2026, McDiarmid told the audience that Lucas had approached him about a Palpatine TV series focusing on his political life. Lucas even teased that McDiarmid could direct an episode.
“[George Lucas] was talking about, I think I can tell you now, a television series,” McDiarmid explained. “At the time we didn’t think about Star Wars in terms of television series. Very speculative. We had lunch one day, and he said I’ve got this idea, and I hope you might want to be involved. We could sort of follow the Emperor’s progress, like Hilter’s, some of that. There might be an assassination attempt, and of course it wouldn’t succeed. It sounded really exciting. And he also said that maybe you could direct one, and then I fainted. But sadly, that didn’t come to pass.“
It’s possible this series could have been Star Wars: Underworld, set between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. A lot of work went into the series before it was ultimately scrapped, with over sixty scripts written. Described as “Deadwood in space,” the series would have explored the “greasy, seamy underbelly of Star Wars.“
So far, McDiarmid’s only appearance as Palpatine in a live-action Star Wars series was his brief turn in Obi-Wan Kenobi.
The Rise of Skywalker
McDiarmid is just so deliciously evil as Palpatine that it’s hard not to enjoy every moment he’s onscreen, but his sudden reappearance in The Rise of Skywalker—along with the explanation that he had been orchestrating events from the shadows—sparked widespread debate among fans.
McDiarmid addressed the backlash last year. “Well, there’s always something, isn’t there? I don’t read that stuff and I’m not online. So it’ll only reach me if someone mentions it. I thought there might be a bit of a fuss about bringing him back,” he said. “But as I said, mine and Palpatine’s logic was entirely reasonable. This man who was horribly maimed thought maybe one day it might happen to him, and we’ve got to have a plan B. I loved the whole idea that he should come back and be even more powerful than he was before. Though this time, he had to be utterly destroyed. So I think he’s dead.“
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