Star Wars' Past

If the trailer to Rise of Skywalker is to be believed somehow Emperor Palpatine is still somehow alive--30 plus years after Darth Vader threw him down a Death Star shaft. Let's hope he spent that time taking care of his severe eczema.

If Palpatine ends up being the ultimate bad guy in this set of trilogies it might ultimately be appropriate in the sense that Lucas' original plans for a nine-movie Star Wars epic would have concluded with a final battle with Palpatine in Episode IX. According to something I read online some twenty years ago,* the story goes that Lucas hyped a nine-movie series before Empire Strikes Back, but then got burned out after Empire and decided to wrap everything up in Return of the Jedi. (The fact that Lucas ended his story after Episode VI explains why the new trilogy is a little disjointed from the original trilogy--I mean, what else can you do with a story that already ended with a happily ever after with Ewok dancing on Endor?)

It's interesting that while The Mandalorian is forward looking, The Rise of Skywalker with its Palpatine and Lando Calrissian's cape appears to be backward looking. Here's hoping it is a fitting ending to this chapter in the Star Wars universe.

*So you know this must be true.