The phantom menace, Sheev Palpatine, Darth Sidious, the Emperor – whatever you want to call him – is back in action, which only portends danger for Rey and our Resistance heroes in the upcoming Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
In fact, Episode IX is now quickly approaching and is so close that we can almost hear Palpatine’s unmistakable laughter, which is something that Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren can probably sympathize with as well, as today’s new clip from The Rise of Skywalker sees the current big bad of the franchise arriving on some dark (literally) planet and lured into a chamber of sorts by the voice of Palpatine. But all is not as it seems, and as you’ll see after you’ve watched the footage above, this might just be the most spoiler-y thing from the film that we’ve seen yet.
Raising a ton of questions and opening up a whole new can of worms, this latest clip sees the Emperor hint to Kylo that he’s been the one leading him along all this time, which really only leaves us more confused about the whole situation than we were before. But it’s nothing if not tantalizing and only has us that much more anxious to see the film now.
After all, Palpatine is the real big bad of Lucasfilm’s far-away galaxy, and it’s fair to say that his unexpected return is one of the biggest talking points heading into Rise of Skywalker. His exact role in Kylo’s journey thus far is still unclear, but this footage does shed a bit more light on things and has us curious to see how it all plays out.
And thankfully, we’ll get to do just that in a few more days, as Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is set to be with us on December 20th. Buzz surrounding the pic has been a bit mixed so far, but hopefully, it’ll close the curtain on this galactic saga in a satisfying way and leave fans feeling hopeful about the franchise’s future.
