Rumours have been swirling about for the last few days that Ian McDiarmid would be returning to Episode VII in some capacity or another, and there’s been a lot of hand waving back and forth about whether or not it’s legit.
The usually reliable Latino Review weighed in today on the subject to say that, yes, indeed, Palpatine will feature into the movie.
Instantly, many screamed, “He’ll be a clone! They’re doing Dark Empire!”
But not so, says Latino Review:
Palpatine comes back as a Force Ghost..like Obi Wan. (Sith Lords learned similar techniques, which in some cases allowed them to physically interact with their environment.)
Palpatine will not be a clone, not in human form.
Palpatine had a new apprentice before he got killed.
It’s an interesting theory. And would lend a lot of credence to the return of Vader idea that was bandied about before. Palpatine knows what fear strikes in the hearts of Luke Skywalker, and it’s facing Vader. If he has a new apprentice, what better way to screw with the grand master of the new Jedi than to harp on his daddy issues?
I dunno.
It could pan out.
It could be nothing.
Personally? I’d like to know nothing about the movie going into it. I think the failing many had with Phantom Menace is they searched everywhere for clues and were upset when they didn’t add up the way they wanted.
I’m excited for anything I’m given for this Star Wars movie and don’t need to worry about who is or isn’t in it.
That’s also why I’m glad there were no announcements out of D23, aside from the fact that we were told from the get go that there would be no announcements. I want all of this to be as mysterious as possible, and it’s going to drive fanboys up the wall.
UPDATE: The more I think about this, the more it makes sense if you go back to Lucas’s vision of the three trilogies with the first being societal and political, the second trilogy being the personal journey, and the third being spiritual. How would you kill the soul of a thing?