Petition To Erect Emperor Palpatine Statue In Carnoustie, Scotland Gains Traction

There’s one character in Star Wars‘ Skywalker Saga that has proved to have lasting appeal with fans for his over-the-top but memorable presence in the films: Ian McDiarmid’s Darth Sidious, the puppet master arguably responsible for manipulating Anakin Skywalker to join the dark side of the Force.

In case you’re not already familiar, the Skywalker Saga encompasses all three trilogies of the mainline Star Wars films, from A New Hope through 2019’s Rise of Skywalker. Although McDiarmid may not have appeared in all nine of those films, the character is still a presence in each one, even if it is off-screen.

Not only that, but McDiarmid’s performance as the conniving Emperor Palpatine in the prequel trilogy was a highlight for critics in those films, despite the reception of those movies falling flat critically, overall.

So it’s no wonder that Hunor Deak from McDiarmid’s hometown of Carnoustie, Scotland, wants to erect a statue of the actor as Darth Sidious, of which you can find a Change.org petition link right here.

According to the website, the post has already garnered about 300 of its required 500 signatures, as of press time.

The petition is a bid to convince the Angus Council and the Scottish government to commission a bronze statue of Ian McDiarmid and place it in Carnoustie in honor of his “many contributions to movies, theater and charity.”

The campaign goes on to argue that the statue could possibly attract Star Wars fans to visit the town and help jumpstart its economy. That just might be a decent tact since Carnoustie, Scotland has definitely been pinned by this writer as a bucket list destination after learning about the petition.