Ian McDiarmid Confirms He’s Not In Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

Senator_palpatine1It’s been speculated that the Emperor Palpatine would be among the list of Star Wars characters to make an appearance in Rogue One. However, Ian McDiarmid (the actor who originally brought Sheev to life) has let slip that the Emperor has no role in the film.

 

 

As reported by Hound’s Tooth Blog (which is typically a Star Wars analysis site) Ian McDiarmid was present at the Amsterdam Comic Con in the Netherlands, offering a short interview to a reporter covering the event. He expressed great enjoyment of The Force Awakens, along with his personal anticipation for Rogue One, before dropping a bombshell on the reporter. His statement is as follows:

 

Rogue One’s on its way, when I was in charge of things – I mean the Emperor, not me. I am not featured in [the movie] myself, but I understand that Darth Vader may be making an appearance.

 

 

 

There’s a slight (though extremely unlikely) chance that this could be some kind of misdirection, as we do see Palpatine’s Royal Guard protecting something important in the teaser trailer – just as it’s also possible that someone else is filling in for the role (again, probably not gonna happen). As it stands, McDiarmid is likely telling the truth about his lack of involvement with the movie. While Palpatine’s absence from Rogue One might come as a disappointment to many fans of either of the first two Star Wars trilogies, look on the bright side – at least we’ll still get to see Jimmy Smits play Bail Organa again, along with Genevieve O’Reilly as Mon Mothma. Ian McDiarmid also said that he’d love to come back if he were needed – and with other Star Wars Anthology movies on the horizon, there’s more than enough room for his majesty to make a triumphant, terrifying return to the Galaxy Far, Far Away. (And again, there’s still a chance that we might see Palpatine in the movie – if only fleetingly – in some other capacity. It’s more of a chance than Snoke has of appearing in the movie, anyway.)

 

 

Special thanks to our friends from the Dutch entertainment website XGN.nl. The original video with the interview was shot by them and was published last Sunday here.

 

 

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Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.

Grant Davis (Pomojema)

Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.

58 thoughts on “Ian McDiarmid Confirms He’s Not In Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

  • August 30, 2016 at 5:00 pm
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    Damn, I was really hoping he was in it, great character and he brought him to life in a way that made the prequels more enjoyable.

    • August 30, 2016 at 5:24 pm
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      yep, my only gripe w/ prequel palpatine is when he is dueling mace windu he seems to overdo it just a little bit. aside from that, great job. it would have been cool to see some sort of political thriller star wars side film that shows just how Palpatine played the Republic while also operating behind the scenes as a Sith.

      • August 30, 2016 at 6:44 pm
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        Overdoing it? Surely not!

        UN…LIM…I…TED… POW…AH!!!!!

        • August 30, 2016 at 7:47 pm
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          Talks Normal: Oh hello there.

          Goes Super Evil: ARE YOU THREATENING ME MASTER JEDI?

        • August 30, 2016 at 10:56 pm
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          no…No….NO…NO!!!!!! Just a smidge. A wafer-thin piece of over-acting.

          • August 31, 2016 at 12:48 am
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            omg (lol)…you read my mind with that reference.

      • August 30, 2016 at 8:04 pm
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        Ugh. That scene was just super awkward. For as much as I enjoyed seeing McDiarmid reprise his role, his fighting scenes were really goofy.

        • August 30, 2016 at 11:34 pm
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          He was subdued for over 2 movies he was really wanted to unleash the madness.

  • August 30, 2016 at 5:09 pm
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    I wanted to see him as a hologram talking to Krennic at least. Oh well. I was way more invested in the possibility of Bail Organa appearing and he is so I’m happy.

    • August 30, 2016 at 7:13 pm
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      Agreed a hologram just once would of been cool – wasted opportunity IMO.

    • August 31, 2016 at 12:46 am
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      Bail Organa Return –

      Genuinely curious why you (& many others) are more invested in more of Bail Organa?
      Liked the character in prequels?
      Liked the actors portrayal?

      For myself I found Bail (character & acting) in the prequels as a very forgettable. When the movies ended I just didn’t think – “can’t wait to see more of that guy!”. 😉

      I don’t believe I’ve seen the actor in anything else but understand he was in a popular TV show(?).

      • August 31, 2016 at 2:55 am
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        “Liked the character in prequels?
        Liked the actors portrayal?”

        both. I’m a big fan of Jimmy Smits anyway but I hard dreamed of someday seeing Bail Organa in a movie since I discovered the Star Wars radio drama in the early 90s [which I then listened to dozens of times] and then suddenly in AOTC there he was finally was. Then he role in ROTS was still secondary but it was monumental. And yeah I love how Smits played Bail. So I’m dying to see him again one last time, this time as one the leaders of the Rebellion he helped start. And as a giant nerd for the Alliance I’m excited to see the high command all together in the Yavin base.

        • August 31, 2016 at 3:08 am
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          Cool – that makes sense.
          I’d honestly just never seen him in anything, but I remember people back-in-the-day excited that he was cast.
          Just didn’t have the performance jump out at me in the prequels….nothing wrong with him/his acting. Just a background character.

          Great you just reminded me of the radio drama. Those were great.
          I also really enjoyed those, including having characters/dialogue not featured in the films included.

          Myself – I remember WAY BACK in the day, late 1970s, creating stories in my mind about who these characters were, Bail Organa of top interest. From Leia’s cryptic – “Years ago you served my father in the clone wars” to expecting he was killed while she watched from the Death Star.

          Glad he’ll be in it, alongside Mon Mothma (wish she’d not been cut from prequels) as *founders* of the rebellion.

  • August 30, 2016 at 5:55 pm
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    I’m sort of glad he’s not in the movie. Palpatine is a fantastic character, certainly a high point (one of precious few) in the Prequel Trilogy, but I would use him very, very sparingly, if at all. I’ve always like the idea that as his power solidified, he became increasingly secluded and unseen.

    • August 30, 2016 at 7:39 pm
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      I agree. I like the way he was really mysterious in the OT. I want to keep the character that way.

      • August 30, 2016 at 10:56 pm
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        It also lines up with the now mostly contradicted preamble to the SW novelization which describes an Emperor isolated from the galaxy.

        • August 31, 2016 at 7:01 am
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          The OG SW novelization isn’t canon anyway.

          • August 31, 2016 at 10:50 pm
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            Which…is what I said?

          • September 1, 2016 at 3:09 am
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            K.

    • August 31, 2016 at 12:40 am
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      Sometimes “less is more”. 🙂

  • August 30, 2016 at 5:56 pm
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    I actually never cared if he appeared or not.

  • August 30, 2016 at 7:37 pm
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    Ian McDiarmid isnt in the movie but the emperor is i think. Cause why show us royal guards when the emperor isnt in the movie. I still believe he is the one in the bacta tank. Mavbe we only hear him speak.

    • August 31, 2016 at 3:09 pm
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      Maybe he sent the Royal Guards to watch over something for him.

  • August 30, 2016 at 7:48 pm
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    Next up: The ‘Snoke IS Plagueis’ zanies will be asking Pablo Hidalgo for 8,174 points of clarification that ‘But he said PALPATINE not SIDIOUS isn’t in R1…’ (or some such tinfoil-hat silliness)

    • August 31, 2016 at 7:00 am
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      Lol true.

  • August 30, 2016 at 10:57 pm
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    In other breaking news, I can also confirm I will not appear in Rogue One. Anyone else?

    • August 31, 2016 at 12:53 am
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      More breaking news –
      I am not featured in the movie, myself…. I understand Mr_Crankypants may not be making an appearance.

      • August 31, 2016 at 12:56 am
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        This is UNCONFIRMED at the moment, and should be treated as RUMOR.

    • August 31, 2016 at 1:21 am
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      That’s a shame. But keep going to those auditions! There’s still hope for Episode IX (assuming you’re not in VIII?!)

      • August 31, 2016 at 10:57 pm
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        “I AM the sena…..er..EPISODE VII!”

    • August 31, 2016 at 2:02 am
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      THIS GUY.

      • August 31, 2016 at 10:56 pm
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        “WHO’S GOT TWO THUMBS, AND ISN’T IN R1?!”

  • August 31, 2016 at 12:04 am
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    And a hundred fan theories about that scene, including mine, went up in smoke. Back to the drawing board…

  • August 31, 2016 at 12:50 am
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    Re: “has let slip that the Emperor has no role in the film”

    It seems that he only says the HE (himself, the actor) is not in the movie.
    NOT that the Emperor isn’t shown/glimpsed.
    I mean the 2nd part of that implies that he just *understands* (character) Vader is in the movie, that he doesn’t have direct in-depth knowledge about the script/movie & what we’ll see on screen.

  • August 31, 2016 at 3:41 am
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    Words cannot express my DISAPPOINTMENT that Ian McDiarmond is NOT in Rogue One. Ian is such an AMAZING actor and realistically may not have many years left in life — they should be USING this guy as MUCH as possible and his presence in Rogue One would have been absolutely breathtaking. I am ASHAMED of Lucasfilm for leaving him out.

    • August 31, 2016 at 6:50 am
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      Random CAPITAL letters DON’T make YOUR sentence ANY easier TO understand.

      • August 31, 2016 at 4:18 pm
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        How come every time I come to these threads you have at least one critical comment about another poster? Do you ever stop being critica?

        • August 31, 2016 at 10:49 pm
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          “CritiCAL”.

        • September 1, 2016 at 3:10 am
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          I’m sorry, I’m a very “critica” person.

    • August 31, 2016 at 1:57 pm
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      Keep in mind the Emperor wasnt in ANH so giving him a major role in a movie very very close to ANH would be a kind of strang in my opinion.

    • August 31, 2016 at 3:09 pm
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      If he isn’t part of the story, he isn’t part of the story.

      • August 31, 2016 at 7:12 pm
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        For real…I like Ian as much as the next fan, but can’t we have a little faith in Lucasfilm at this point?

    • August 31, 2016 at 4:59 pm
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      Maybe shoehorning in a character that the film isn’t specifically about isn’t the way to go, but of course, you seem to know more than the filmmakers about what the film is supposed to be about than they do….

      • August 31, 2016 at 5:39 pm
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        I would think it makes sense to have a popular character who runs the empire in an empire centric film. I don’t think disagreeing with someone is a reason to berate people online.

        • August 31, 2016 at 10:55 pm
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          How is ROGUE ONE an “Empire centric” film? I was under the (apparently mistaken) impression that it’s a Rebellion centric film. You know, because it’s about a bunch of Rebels. Rebelling.

          • September 1, 2016 at 1:55 am
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            Yeah it’s about the Rebels rebelling again WHAT? The almighty empire which is about to finalize construction of the Death STar.

          • September 1, 2016 at 10:38 pm
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            So was SW. That isn’t an ‘Empire-Centric” film either.

          • September 1, 2016 at 2:28 am
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            You’re not necessarily mistaken. I’m just pointing out that I can see why people would assume Papaltine would be in this. You see it’s not really good to assume things it’ll just lead to disappointments. It is a Rebel and Empire centric film clearly other wise what’s the point? And having all of the Imperial characters in the trailers. We’ll never really know until we see it. I’m just drawing conclusions based on context clues and trailers. Just looking at things from another point of view…

        • August 31, 2016 at 11:40 pm
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          I didn’t berate you at all. I questioned your assumption that that you knew better than the filmmakers in what to include in the movie they are making and that they should be ashamed of themselves for not adhering to your own personal expectations.

          • September 1, 2016 at 2:23 am
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            I’m not talking about me, I’m talking about the person you shamed earlier.

    • August 31, 2016 at 10:52 pm
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      He’s younger than HF. Whatchoo talking ’bout, Willis?

  • August 31, 2016 at 10:17 pm
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    Ian may not have many years left with us — since this Film is about the Empire at essentially its height, Palpatine absolutely should be in it. Again – ashamed of LucasFilm for this lost opportunity.

    • August 31, 2016 at 10:57 pm
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      “Ashamed”? Stop it – get some help.

      • September 1, 2016 at 1:55 am
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        Its a bad decision. Palpatine is an iconic Star Wars character with decades of equity with the fanbase. Leaving him out of Rogue One is, was, and always will be a mistake.

        • September 1, 2016 at 1:50 pm
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          He’s the only one here allowed to have strong opinions. FYI.

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