Somehow a Legendary Villain Returned In the 'Obi-Wan Kenobi' Finale
The following story contains spoilers for Part VI of Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Can we just be real for a minute? The last time we saw the baddest of all the bad guys in Star Wars—Emperor Palpatine, played to perfection for damn near 40 years in this franchise by Ian McDiarmid—it was not a good time. There are many different metrics on which to measure a movie, and Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker comes up successful on very few of them. The plot needlessly centers on the return of Emperor Palpatine from the dead (explained by Oscar Isaac's Poe Dameron as "Somehow Palpatine returned," with little other explanation to come), and it does not really become palatable as the movie continues. Rise of Skywalker feels like an attempt to make someone happy, but it's never entirely clear who.
Obi-Wan Kenobi, however, is a different story. The six-part Disney+ series takes place between the prequel trilogy and the original trilogy, so it makes sense that Emperor Palpatine is not only alive, but thriving. No need to return, because he has nothing to return from—he's recently executed Order 66, and is on top of the galaxy.
While there have also been storylines centered around a young Princess Leia (Vivien Lyra Blair) and Reva (Moses Ingram), by far the most compelling aspect of the series has been the past and present relationship between Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor) and Anakin (Hayden Christensen). And the finale gave us exactly what we all wanted—a face-off between the two that not only brought some great action, but also established some real emotional stakes.
And who better to measure the emotional heft of their rendezvous than the man who stole Anakin from Obi-Wan, Palpy himself? It's a short scene in Obi-Wan Kenobi's Part VI, but seeing Vader reject his old master once again in the face of his new master made for some great TV. Leaning into nostalgia? Sure. But when you've got one of the best villain actors in the game doing his thing all over again, it's hard to get it wrong.
Somehow Ian McDiarmid returned to play Emperor Palpatine.
After McDiarmid—who played Palpatine in the original Star Wars trilogy, the prequel trilogy, and Rise of Skywalker—appeared at last month's Star Wars Celebration in California (clip of said appearance above), it should have been obvious that he would be back in the fold in short order. And that proved true with his cameo appearance in Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Palpatine appeared to, yes, give Star Wars fans some cat nip for one of the most appreciated characters in the franchise and one of the great villains of all time. But his appearance also served as a true metric for just how much Anakin is dead, and Darth Vader lives. Palpy plays Anakin like a fiddle, and we see it in action here. He pushes Vader like a bully taunting another kid at recess: "Well, if you're not up to it..."
Vader is a lot more like his grandson, Kylo Ren, than we ever knew. Palpatine knows what he's capable of, but in this still-early era of Darth Vader, he's as much trying to prove to himself that he's just as much of a fixture on the dark side as he thinks. Kylo Ren went over the top to prove his Sith skills to everyone around him, and so, too, did Vader.
What does Palpatine's appearance mean for Star Wars?
McDiarmid's appearance here comes as no surprise, but it just proves yet again that in this era of Disney+ Star Wars series, we can expect to see basically any character of any era. This was really proven back in 2016 with Rogue One, when Grand Moff Tarkin—complete with Peter Cushing's likeness—appeared as a key character in the movie. Let us remind you that Peter Cushing, who plays Tarkin, has been dead since 1994.
Still, seeing McDiarmid and Liam Neeson (as Obi-Wan Kenobi's late Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn, last seen in 1999's Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace) in the same final 20 minutes of a Disney+ show makes things as clear as ever: if it makes sense for a character to appear, they could very well appear. No one is off limits.
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