Palpatine actor Ian McDiarmid recently confirmed that George Lucas had planned to develop a television series centered around the fan-favorite Star Wars villain.
Years before Disney acquired Lucasfilm and brought Star Wars to the small screen in a big way, Lucas had planned to develop a television show centered around McDiarmid’s Emperor. In a recent interview to celebrate the 20th anniversary rerelease of Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, McDiarmid confirmed that Lucas had told him about the proposed show, although the Star Wars creator had never told him too much about what it would encompass.
What did Ian McDiarmid say about the Palpatine TV show?
Speaking with Variety, McDiarmid shared that the only backstory he was given about Palpatine that would have appeared in the proposed show was “the story of Darth Plagueis the Wise. It’s fairly obvious that my character murdered Plagueis on his road to becoming Palpatine. But beyond that, no.”
As for why he doesn’t know more, the actor explained, “With George, you didn’t discuss anything really. You turn up and you shoot. These films take a long time to make and the pressure is intense for many reasons; of course, George was at the forefront of all of that. So he had all of that to think about day by day. He takes a good deal of trouble over casting; but, once he’s cast, then he likes the actors to get on with it.”
Emperor Palpatine is one of the few characters to appear in all three trilogies of the Skywalker Saga, with McDiarmid portraying him across his five appearances. While Marjorie Eaton portrayed a holographic Emperor in the original release of The Empire Strikes Back, Lucas replaced Eaton with McDiarmid for the 2004 Special Edition of the movie. McDiarmid also portrayed Palpatine in Obi-Wan Kenobi and voiced the villain in select episodes of Star Wars Rebels, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars: The Bad Batch, and Tales of the Jedi.
All Star Wars movies and series can be streamed on Disney+.
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