The phantom menace, Sheev Palpatine, Darth Sidious, the Emperor – he goes by many names – but whatever you choose to call him, his re-appearance only spells danger for Rey and our Resistance heroes in this week’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
With the film having now made its world premiere and already showing in some territories, the avalanche of leaks have begun to surface online and perhaps the juiciest one yet has now emerged, with one user uploading the first seven minutes or so of the movie to YouTube, which features the aforementioned Palpatine back in action. For obvious reasons, we’ve chosen not to embed it here, but you can see it for yourself over on Reddit.
Featuring much of the same footage we saw in that clip last week, which had Kylo Ren arriving on a dark (literally) planet and lured into a chamber of sorts, what we see here is certainly tantalizing. Not only do we get a pretty big revelation about Snoke, but there’s also a rather surprising voice cameo and, of course, a look at Palpatine in the flesh as he tries to tempt Kylo to join him in building a new Empire.
All things considered, there’s certainly a lot to chew on in this clip. After all, Palpatine’s shocking return is one of the biggest talking points going into Rise of Skywalker. His exact role in the film is still a bit unclear, but this footage – along with numerous other spoilers found over on Reddit – are certainly beginning to shed some more light on things.
But for those who would rather wait to learn all the secrets Disney and Lucasfilm have in store for us, the good news is that your time has almost come, as Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker touches down in US theaters on December 20th, and looks to close out this most epic of sci-fi sagas in a satisfying manner.
