Posted in: Disney+, Lucasfilm, Movies, Star Wars, TV | Tagged: star wars

Star Wars: Ian McDiarmid Reveals Palpatine Series Was Being Developed

Ian McDiarmid revealed that Disney was planning a Star Wars series focusing on Palpatine's backstory before "The Rise of Skywalker" came out.

Ian McDiarmid became one of the most unlikely mainstays of the Star Wars franchise since making his debut in 1983's Return of the Jedi. As he was far younger in those days, he was heavily caked in aged makeup to become Emperor Sheev Palpatine, the master of Darth Vader (David Prowse, James Earl Jones). While the late Clive Revill initially played the Emperor in the 1980 film The Empire Strikes Back, he was seen in a transmission in the Irwin Kirshner film before the Richard Marquand follow-up gave him the final physical form. Retroactively, creator George Lucas refilmed Revill's scenes with McDiarmid for continuity purposes. McDiarmid would triumphantly return, starring in the prequel trilogy, hiding in the shadows as the Dark Lord of the Sith initially as Chancellor, then Senator, and his final promotion as Emperor from 1999-2005. Shocking audiences once more, he would return one last time physically, for now, as the one pulling the strings in 2019's The Rise of Skywalker, as it's revealed the Emperor cloned himself, trying to rule the galaxy once more. McDiarmid spoke to Variety to commemorate Revenge of the Sith's 20th anniversary, that Disney had even grander plans for him, a Palpatine-centric TV series.

Star Wars Star Ian McDiarmid Reveals Palpatine Series Was in Works

Regarding McDiarmid meeting his predecessor, "I met him a couple of times. He was a very fine actor. It must have been disappointing to him that he didn't continue to play him. But of course, he didn't really play him in the first place. It was a woman in a mask [Marjorie Eaton] and his voice," he said. "Interestingly enough, in 'Return of the Jedi,' our director Richard Marquand gave me a tape early on and said, 'If you can get your voice like Clive's, George might let you keep it.' I had no idea I wouldn't be able to use my own voice! I thought if Clive knew what that creature had become or what he looked like, he would be doing something along the lines of what I was doing. So I continued to do my little voice like that; George didn't say stop, and neither did Richard."

McDiarmid reflected on returning for the Special Edition recordings, "Later we came to re-voice everything in the studio in London, with George and Kathleen Kennedy, who I met for the first time, and indeed, Steven Spielberg, who I met for the first time. And when we did the first few scenes, Steven said, 'Oh my God, you're evil!' I thought, 'That's a relief.'

As far as continuing Palpatine's story after Rise of Skywalker, McDiarmid spoke about the proposed backstory series, which was teased most recently in the Disney+ original series The Acolyte and initially introduced by Palpatine to Anakin (Hayden Christensen) in RotS. "Just the story of Darth Plagueis the Wise. It's fairly obvious that my character murdered Plagueis on his road to becoming Palpatine. But beyond that, no. With George, you didn't discuss anything really. You turn up and you shoot. These films take a long time to make, and the pressure is intense for many reasons; of course, George was at the forefront of all of that. So he had all of that to think about day by day. He takes a good deal of trouble over casting; but, once he's cast, then he likes the actors to get on with it."

When it came to Emperor's story to Anakin, "For example, the scene at the opera. I'd already done a scene in the makeup in the morning. We went to that in the afternoon, and my voice wasn't in its best shape. It's probably the most Palpatine had ever spoken in the movie," McDiarmid said. "I was kind of hoarse, so I was worried about that, mainly because I had about four wind machines being driven at me in the scene where he's turning into the monster. So I was a bit throaty, and we did it about 20 times on a Friday afternoon — not the best time to shoot when everyone wants to get off for the weekend. And, in addition to my throat and the fact it was late in the afternoon on a Friday, there was a birthday party for the first AD, and a man in a gold suit — i.e., Anthony Daniels — was busy getting the champagne ready just off the set on a trolley. Then at one point, a mobile phone went off and the person answered it. So all of that was going on just outside my vision. But oddly enough, when the pressure's on, the concentration can be even more intense. In a strange way, it may have helped the scene."

Following the panned reaction from the final Skywalker Saga film, McDiarmid revealed the grim fate of the series, "Well, there's always something, isn't there? I don't read that stuff, and I'm not online. So it'll only reach me if someone mentions it. I thought there might be a bit of a fuss about bringing him back. But as I said, mine and Palpatine's logic was entirely reasonable. This man, who was horribly maimed, thought maybe one day it might happen to him, and we've got to have a plan B. I loved the whole idea that he should come back and be even more powerful than he was before. Though this time, he had to be utterly destroyed. So I think he's dead."

While there have been various actors who've voiced the Emperor in Star Wars canon, McDiarmid returned for three additional projects in the live-action Obi-Wan Kenobi, a miniseries set between the prequel and original trilogy, and animated shows Tales of the Jedi and The Bad Batch. For more, including McDiarmid's initial meetings with Lucas on the role, his returns, Palpatine's signature moments, when the Emperor had time for children, and more, you can check out the entire interview.

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