Why didn’t Star Wars keep Palpatine’s return a secret? Kathleen Kennedy explains

It began with a familiar and menacing cackle at the end of the very first teaser for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Just like that, Emperor Palpatine was back.

That was in April, at this year’s Star Wars Celebration in Chicago. In August, at Disney’s D23 convention, we saw Rey igniting a double-bladed red lightsaber.

These felt like very big spoilery moments for Disney to reveal in trailers. But as Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy told Gizmodo, there was a reason these moments weren’t kept secret. “Because we’re bringing this to a conclusion, many of the characters that are playing a significant role in the story, the fans know,” she said. “They don’t know how this story is going to unfold, but they know who they are. It’s not like Baby Yoda. [Laughs] We’re not revealing something significant like that. And I think that that is important to this story.”

The Rise of Skywalker has been billed as the ninth and final chapter in the Skywalker Saga, and considering the fact that Palpatine was the main villain in both the original and prequel trilogies, it sort of makes sense he’d return for the end. However, it’s interesting that Kennedy doesn’t think that his return is “significant” enough to warrant keeping secret. She continued:

"We’re not trying to be coy and unnecessarily clever. And we had a lot of conversation about that. We certainly tease Palpatine, but we arrived at a decision pretty early on, right around Celebration, that we were like, ‘Wait a minute. The fans are going to want that. We need to be somewhat more open than we would normally be because there isn’t something to hide here. There’s actually something to tantalize everybody with. To let speculation be a part of the conversation.’ And that’s always been such a great thing about Star Wars, is that the fans get so engaged in that. And we felt that with this story that should be allowed to happen."

If you were worried that Palpatine’s return would undercut his defeat in The Return of the Jedi, producer Michelle Rejwan says it was a decision that was arrived at after very careful consideration. “I think there was a feeling of inevitability that Palpatine had been a part of all three [trilogies] and in the biggest picture of nine movies, he has been there from the very beginning,” she said. “And his presence in this movie, we will not spoil that, but when you see it it does feel to us, not only does it have the feeling of inevitability, but the ending of where we left him last, in Return of the Jedi, was very important to J.J. [Abrams] and Chris [Terrio] and to all of us. We discussed it at great length…I think it definitely feels as though it is in the DNA of the nine. And it felt appropriate to have his presence be in this movie.”

Perhaps we’ll learn a bit more — though I wouldn’t count on it — when Abrams and the cast of Rise come on Jimmy Kimmel Live! for a primetime special on December 16. According to Deadline, stars Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Billy Dee Williams, Anthony Daniels, Naomi Ackie, Kelly Marie Tran and Keri Russell will all be there to take part in a “Force Family Feud.” Sounds like fun!

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker hits theaters on December 20.

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