Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker originally featured a line in the script that confirmed Emperor Palpatine was a clone, it has emerged.
According to Ian McDiarmid, who reprised the role of the “dead” villain in a surprise appearance in last year’s instalment, a line was cut where Palpatine was referred to as a clone.
“The cloning thing?” McDiarmid said during a recent appearance at Comic Con in Brussels. “Yes. Well, of course, there were all sorts of explanations for why I might return.
“But it’s interesting because at one point the script had a line in that first scene with Adam [Driver – who plays Kylo Ren] when he says ‘You’re a clone.’ And I said in that original script, which is no longer with us, ‘More than a clone. Less than a man.’ Which seemed to me to sum it up really.”
McDiarmid’s character was killed at the end of 1983’s Return of the Jedi. There was no explanation for his appearance in The Rise of Skywalker.
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While that confirmation by McDiarmid is a fresh revelation, the fact that Palpatine was a clone in The Rise of Skywalker was unearthed earlier this week when advanced copies of the official Lucasfilm book were sold in Chicago’s C232 and leaked online.