Is Emperor Palpatine going to be in Star Wars Rebels Season 4?

Back in May, Ian McDiarmid was spotted recording in London with a Star Wars Rebels cast member…

Ready or not, Star Wars Rebels season 4 is quickly approaching, premiering on Disney XD October 16th.

With the events of Rebels now within a year of the events of Rogue One and A New Hope, more and more characters from the Original Trilogy keep popping up.

In season 3, Obi-Wan surfaced for the first time, when he finally defeated Maul, on Tatooine, once and for all. Also, Mon Mothma and Bail Organa’s roles continue to increase, displaying that Rebels is on a crash-course with A New Hope and the events surrounding it.

A character whose presence is felt even when off-screen in Star Wars, is that of Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious.

So far the only Rebels appearance of the Emperor was during the premiere of season 2, part two of The Siege of Lothal. We only get a view of the back of his hologram and don’t actually see his disfigured face.

It was not McDiarmid — the on-screen actor of Palpatine — who voiced the evil Sith Master but was, in fact, Star Wars voice actor Sam Witwer. Witwer also portrayed the Emperor in the most recent Star Wars Battlefront video game, showing off his versatility and skills as a voice actor.

In May, alleged reports surfaced that McDiarmid was recording in the same location as Warwick Davis, who is voicing Grand Admiral Thrawn’s body guard, Rukh, in season 4, generating major buzz that Palpatine would return as well.

However, during a most recent panel in Canada, Dave Filoni stated that we will not see Palpatine during the final season of the highly acclaimed show.

Even though the Prequels were really about the rise of Palpatine, the original films were not. In-fact, the Emperor is just briefly mentioned by Tarkin in A New Hope and its prequel Rogue One. The only time we see him in The Empire Strikes back is via hologram, during a brief conversation with Darth Vader. It’s not until Return of the Jedi that we see The Emperor in the flesh and its only for a handful of scenes.

That speaks volumes to the character and McDiarmid who portrays him, and how he’s impacted those brief appearances key to the story as a whole.

Would it make sense to have Emperor Palpatine in season 4? Yes, it definitely would. Would it also be proper if he did not appear at all? The answer again is yes.

Photo credited to: Lucasfilm

The actions and plans of Emperor Palpatine are woven into and resound clearly during every Star Wars film, so his appearance is not necessary, but would be a great addition if he were to show up.

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The only way it would be justified in flow with the plot and specific story of the Ghost crew, would be if our two Jedi, Ezra and Kanan, were captured by Vader and brought before his Master. If that goes down, it definitely will not end well for them.

Filoni is the master of half-truths and his certain point of view, much like Obi-Wan, so it is possible that Palpatine could not be in the first half of season four, but pop up during the second portion, surprising us all.

What do you think? Would an appearance from Emperor Palpatine make sense or do you like having his character as mysterious as possible? Tell us in the comments below and on our social media pages.

Next: Starkiller from The Force Unleashed was nearly added to Star Wars Rebels

All paths are coming together this fall for the Ghost crew, but will those paths collide with Emperor Palpatine? Find out during season 4 when Rebels concludes its story.

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