There he gave an arena speech about his past cloning work. He bemoaned the way Moff Gideon (and by extension Palpatine) had turned his work evil while extolling the potential virtues of his research.

Palpatine fell down a huge chasm in the Death Star. We never heard Palpatine go “thump.” Sure, there was that big explosion when he fell, but we never saw him die.

Does Emperor Palpatine's convoluted plan make sense in 'Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,', if you think about it?

But to have Palpatine return in The Rise of Skywalker, or reveal that his apparent death was just one move in his long game of 3D chess, could significantly reduce Anakin's accomplishment and ...

Everyone knows that Emperor Palpatine is a scary guy. He’s got the Force lightning, he has total control of the most powerful Empire in the galaxy, and he’s a conniving two-faced weasel.

Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 2 is bringing Ian McDiarmid’s Emperor Palpatine into the mix, and the showrunners talked with CinemaBlend about what it was like making this happen.

But as much as Palpatine's return raises the stakes for this sequel, we also can't help but be worried. Bringing back the Emperor could wind up doing more harm than good for the franchise.