Ian McDiarmid Confirms No Emperor Palpatine For Star Wars: Rogue One

The Force isn’t with the Emperor… not when it comes to ‘Rogue One’.

According to legendary ‘Star Wars’ actor Ian McDiarmid, the iconic villain Emperor Palpatine won’t be appearing in ‘Star Wars: Rogue One’… despite an appearance from his apprentice.

“I don’t feature in that myself,” he told XGN. “But I understand that Darth Vader may be making an appearance.”

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Of course, Ian McDiarmid starred as Emperor Palpatine in the original ‘Star Wars’ trilogy - first appearing as the iconic villain in ‘Return of the Jedi’. Sixteen years later, he starred in the ‘Star Wars’ prequels as a younger version of the Emperor - Senator Palpatine (also known as the Sith Lord, Darth Sideous).

McDiarmid appeared in all three prequel movies - ‘The Phantom Menace’, ‘Attack of the Clones’ and ‘Revenge of the Sith’.

Also in 2004, a special edition of ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ was updated to include McDiarmid in a holographic conversation between the Emperor and Darth Vader.

So why has he been left out of ‘Star Wars: Rogue One’?

Obviously, the Emperor is very much active during this period - the time between ‘Revenge of the Sith’ and ‘A New Hope’. After all, the entire plot of ‘Rogue One’ revolves around the construction of his very own Death Star.

But it’s likely that Disney and Lucasfilm don’t want to cram too many classic characters into the film, just for the sake of it. That, or the Emperor has been recast… though I can’t help but think that’s far less likely.

‘Star Wars: Rogue One’ stars Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Mads Mikkelsen, Ben Mendelsohn, Alan Tudyk, Donnie Yen, Riz Ahmed, Wen Jiang and Forest Whitaker.

Gareth Edwards directed the film, based on a script by Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy.

‘Star Wars: Rogue One’ heads to cinemas on 16 December 2016.

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Picture Credit: Lucasfilm