The Rise of Skywalker: 3 questions about Palpatine’s return

Emperor Palpatine returned in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, but we don’t know how. Here are three questions about the return of the Phantom Menace.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker brought back the evil architect behind the Galactic Empire and the fall of the Jedi Order, revealing him to be the puppet master behind the First Order as well. Thought to be long dead, his return proved to be surprising and, unfortunately, barely explained.

As we have covered in part here, there are many layers to his return. How is he still alive, what has he been doing, and why is he revealing himself now? The big reveal of the movie was probably Rey’s parentage, but next is the shocker that Darth Sidious himself is still kicking.

The explanation we get is a repeat of Palpatine’s line from Revenge of the Sith, when he tells a conflicted Anakin Skywalker that “the dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural.” He tells Kylo Ren this as the grandson of Skywalker strides into Palpatine’s lair.

For the Resistance, Beaumont Kin (played by Dominic Monaghan) provides all of the remaining explanation. When discussing whether Palpatine could have returned, he explains it as “Dark science…cloning…secrets only the Sith knew.”

The good guys in The Rise of Skywalker may have been content with this explanation, but we are not. How did Emperor Palpatine return, why did he look like a zombie, and should the galaxy fear his return once again?