Will Palpatine Return For Star Wars: Episode VII?

As sequels went on, fans learned that if you were going to fear any one thing in the Star Wars universe, it had better be The Emperor. 

If the latest rumors from Latino Review turn out to be true, then Emperor Palpatine is coming back to haunt the universe once more. Even though “Star Wars: Episode VII” will feature its share of new villains, the person pulling the strings, the real puppet master, the big bad of the trilogy is none other than Emperor Palpatine.

Now say what you will about the Star Wars movies, but one of the consistently awesome things about these movies has been Ian McDiarmid’s performance as Senator/Chancellor/Emperor Palpatine.

The man has become legend in his performance of an evil slowly unmasking itself for all to see, and he’s one of the only people to have escaped the black hole that is known as Hayden Christensen’s acting.

Unfortunately, much like the rumors swirling around Darth Vader’s return, it looks like we’re going to have a new actor cast in the role, as Latino Review also reported the following: “Don’t look for confirmations from this from Ian McDiarmid, because he’s not portraying the Emperor this time.”

If Emperor Palpatine is indeed returning to the Star Wars universe, why wouldn’t he be extended the same courtesy as other original cast members and be invited back for Episode VII? Well, here’s where it gets fun, as there’s a couple of ways they could go about doing this.

First, The Emperor could simply have escaped from being thrown down a random opening in the second Death Star. It’s not that implausible, in fact that’s how Luke was rescued from Cloud City in “The Empire Strikes Back.”

On the other hand, Palpatine could always utilize his knowledge in bringing the dead back to life, courtesy of his former master Darth Plagueis.

Episodes VII and VIII could see The Emperor occupying a robot body, which could explain that hand we saw that everyone thought belonged to an Inquisitor.

If this is true, his presence in VII and VIII, but not in IX, could mean that Luke, despite his best efforts, becomes possessed with the unlimited power of The Emperor for the grand finale of Episode IX.

Of course, this could all be scrapped before we know it, so keep your ears and eyes open as “Star Wars: Episode VII” closes in on its December 18th, 2015 release date.