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New ‘Rise of Skywalker’ clip includes a possible spoiler about Palpatine

What does this mean for Palpatine’s role in the new movie?

Photo of Gavia Baker-Whitelaw

Gavia Baker-Whitelaw

palpatine

A new and potentially spoilery Rise of Skywalker clip may shed some light on Palpatine‘s role, and fans are going wild about what this means for Kylo Ren.

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Emperor Palpatine has supposedly been dead for decades at this point in the Star Wars timeline, but his voice already appeared in the main Rise of Skywalker trailers. This new clip doesn’t give too much away, but it shows Kylo Ren visiting a location that looks pretty Dark Side, seemingly to confront Palpatine, or Palpatine’s ghost. “My boy,” says Palpatine’s voiceover. “I have been every voice you have ever heard.”

https://www.facebook.com/StarWars/videos/472503763458444/?v=472503763458444

A lot of fans have been hoping to see a Kylo Ren redemption arc in this movie, and are interpreting this as proof that Palpatine has been manipulating Kylo Ren/Ben Solo throughout his life, pushing him toward the Dark Side. In other words, Snoke was either one of Palpatine’s pawns, or paled in comparison to the true power that seduced Ben Solo away from his family.

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Of course, the clip is extremely ambiguous. The trailers have also shown Rey going full Dark Side with a double-bladed red lightsaber, which is more likely to be some kind of vision than a colossal spoiler for her character arc.

This clip seems to show Kylo Ren going on a pilgrimage to some kind of ominous Dark Side location, and we definitely hear Palpatine’s voice, but beyond that we won’t know the true context until next week. It’s also worth noting that the voice briefly switches from Palpatine to Vader to Snoke, so this might not be “Palpatine” so much as a Dark Side entity impersonating famous figures who influenced Kylo Ren’s journey. A very effective teaser for all the people speculating about Kylo Ren’s motives, though!

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