Emperor Palpatine
Yes, we know Emperor Palpatine returns in The Rise of Skywalker. We heard his laugh in the teaser trailer and have heard plenty of dialogue from him in all the other trailers and TV spots that have come out since.
We even get a glimpse of his profile in what appears to be some sort of walking throne type of thing. The issue isn’t him being in the final film, it’s that we need to get a logical and sensible explanation to how or why he survived his fall down the Second Death Star’s reactor core.
Not only do we need to have a satisfying answer to that, but his ultimate plan also needs to make sense. In the most recent TV spot, there is a bit of a SPOILER so don’t continue to read if you are trying to avoid anything. There is a voiceover of him talking to Kylo Ren, saying that he has been every voice he’s ever heard in his head. So he is clearly behind the turn of Kylo Ren and it also makes one believe he was manipulating Snoke.
The return of Emperor Palpatine is one of the biggest elements of the final film of the Skywalker saga. While fans will love to see Ian McDiarmid once again chew up scenes as the hated Sith Lord, his return also has to feel real and definitely not forced.