THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE

PALPATINE’S BACK IN THE RISE OF SKYWALKER, BUT HOW? WE’VE GONE UNDERCOVER AMONG THE SITH TO INVESTIGATE. MANY SAM ASHURSTS DIED TO BRING US THIS INFORMATION

PALPATINE’S A CLONE

The first post-Jedi appearance of the Emperor came in Dark Empire, a comic taking place in the now defunct Expanded Universe (or Legends). There, the evil Emperor used a mixture of science and magic (otherwise known as cloning technology and an ‘essence transfer ritual’) to put his nasty spirit into a cloned body. Obviously, EU lore has been wiped out of the new canon, but clones do still exist, and it would be a nice full circle to bring them back into the main film franchise. Also, if Matt Smith does appear in The Rise Of Skywalker as rumoured, could he be playing a young Palpatine?

FORCE VISION/HOLOGRAM

There’s a good chance we’re only getting a technical return of the Emperor through the medium of a Force vision or a hologram. You might not realise it, but the Emperor actually appeared in The Force Awakens – he can be heard in Rey’s Force vision. So it would be logical for the same to happen in

Episode IX. Alternatively, Palpatine ruddy loves appearing as a hologram – it’s how we saw him in The Empire Strikes Back, so he could appear in Rise as a weird pre-recorded message, which would be a bit disappointing.

HE NEVER DIED

This might seem madder than Darth Vader yelling ‘Noooo!’ but there’s a strand of the fandom that believes Palpatine used his Darth Plagueis skills to resurrect himself. Plagueis found a way to defeat death, and some fans believe Palpatine did the same, with enough remnants surviving his trip to the bottom of a space shaft in Return Of The Jedi to allow him to (eventually) resurrect himself using the Force. Of course, he’d have to survive a mile-long drop, radiation from the reactor, and the small matter of the MASSIVE EXPLOSION that destroyed the Death Star to do it, but stranger things have happened.

PALPATINE IS REY’S DAD – SORT OF

It’s heavily implied that Palpatine manipulated midichlorians to create Anakin Skywalker in the prequel trilogy. Some fans believe he did the same thing to create Rey. We’re not sure why – Anakin was the child of a nobody working a menial job on a desert planet who transcended her lowly existence to conceive a super-powerful Jedi-level child for no apparent reason. Meanwhile, Rey was the child of two nobodies, working as junk traders on a desert planet who transcended their lowly existence to conceive a super-powerful Jedi-level child for no apparent reason… Hang on a parsec, these theorists could be onto something! Could Rey’s increasing Force strength be linked to Palpatine returning?

PALPATINE’S SPIRIT IS POSSESSING THE DEATH STAR

By far the most bonkers theory is also our favourite. In Chuck Wendig’s Aftermath, it’s revealed the Sith can be resurrected using artefacts that meant something to them. There are few relics that mean more to Palpatine than the Death Star; it was his greatest weapon and the place where he died. Could he have bonded to the Death Star remains, haunting its corridors, requiring Rey to travel there to defeat him? That could explain why the first teaser trailer sees Rey and her pals rocking up to the planet-sized laser. Is a cross between the Emperor and Unicron too much to ask?