UPDATE! Rumor: Ian McDiarmid Recorded Lines for a Star Wars Project?

A source who works in the voice recording business sent us a very interesting story that happened around six months ago. The source has proven his legitimacy and we’re confident in his words. Still, as you will see, this story raises many questions that we don’t have a concrete answer to, so as always, until any official word is released, treat this as a rumor.

 

 

May 11, 2017

 

Long story short, six months ago, Warwick Davis was recording his lines for Star Wars Rebels Season 4 in London, and just a few days later, none other than Emperor Palpatine himself – Ian McDiarmid – did the same. This all sounds very alluring, but there is one big problem, Emperor Palpatine already appeared in Rebels Season 2, and was voiced by Sam Witwer.

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see Witwer is doing a great job with the voice and changing him doesn’t make much sense.

 

During this year’s Celebration Orlando Warwick Davis revealed that he will be voicing the new character Rukh in Rebels Season 4. Davis mentioned that he communicated with Dave Filoni via a video call throughout the recording sessions since he was in London and Filoni in California. Recently Davis shared that his work on Season 4 is done:

 

 

 

 

Is it possible that Ian and Warwick were recording for another project? I think it’s unlikely. Our source said he is certain Warwick Davis was in London to record for Season 4 and while he was not absolutely sure about Ian, he assumed that it was for the same project since the sessions were separated by a mere few days and the director involved was someone from LA (we assume Filoni via a video call). Our source is not a Star Wars fan, and he didn’t know that there was already an actor who voiced Palpatine in Rebels, but he does know who Ian McDiarmid is.

 

Some might say that six months ago is too far in the past for them to have been recording dialogue for Season 4, but remember that Katee Sackhoff recorded her lines as Bo Katan back in September 2016. At that time we thought it was for Season 3, but this was not the case. And as Pablo Hidalgo said, production work for Rebels is a year and a half ahead of its air date.

 

 

As I said earlier, I doubt that Dave Filoni would replace Sam Witwer as the voice of Palpatine just like that, especially now that another character of Witwer’s, Darth Maul, has died. So, the only possibility I see is that Ian McDiarmid might voice the Emperor in a flashback or something like that, which would justify the use of a different voice. This would strike a similarity to the situation with Obi-Wan. The younger Obi-Wan in The Clone Wars was voiced by James Arnold Taylor and the older Ben in Rebels was voiced by Stephen Stanton. Since Rebels takes place only a few years before the final days of Palpatine, my guess is that Ian might be used as the voice of Senator Palpatine or just a younger Emperor in a flashback. This is the only scenario that makes sense to me, but this is just speculation.

 

It’s also worth mentioning that Sam Witwer voiced the Emperor in Star Wars Battlefront as well. We are not sure who voiced him for Battlefront 2, so this is also a possibility for McDiarmid, although this doesn’t match with the “director from LA” part. Of course there is a possibility that Ian did record some lines for a potential flashback sequence for The Last Jedi (in a similar fashion like Ewan McGregor did for The Force Awakens), but at this point we think it’s unlikely and our source seemed rather confident that it’s for Rebels. It’s also quite possible McDiarmid’s recording could have been for something else, a minor project that we are still unaware of. So to reiterate, while the info is interesting, it raises more questions than answers.

 

What are your thoughts? What do you think this recording was about? Tell us in the comments below.

 

 

 

 

UPDATE!

 

October 1, 2017

 

There seems to be a development to the story above that we posted back in May, which somehow went under our radar.

 

Twitter member Benjamin Hart alerted us that during the Fan Expo in Canada from a month ago, Dave Filoni himself confirmed that Palpatine will not appear in Rebels season 4.

 

 

 

This is quite interesting since it rules out the main speculation from this article that McDiarmid was recording for Rebels. So what could have been this recording for? Han Solo? Could Palpatine’s voice appear in a vision/flashback or Force-back in The Last Jedi similar to Obi-Wan and Yoda in The Force Awakens? Or perhaps it’s for something else down the line.

 

 

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Born on April 24, 1980.

Val Trichkov (Viral Hide)

Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.Born on April 24, 1980.

58 thoughts on “UPDATE! Rumor: Ian McDiarmid Recorded Lines for a Star Wars Project?

  • May 11, 2017 at 7:35 pm
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    I would toss Witwer for McDiarmid in a heartbeat. And I’m sure Filoni would too. I’ve heard him talk about trying to get original actors to voice over before. Nothing against Witwer, of course.

    • May 11, 2017 at 7:39 pm
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      I’m the same way. I think Sam does a good palpatine but if you have a chance to get the OG Palpatine to come and do voice work on your show then you take it. Hope this is true.

    • May 11, 2017 at 11:16 pm
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      Witwer himself told McDiarmid “I’m the guy they get to do the Emperor when they can’t get you.” It makes sense.

  • May 11, 2017 at 7:53 pm
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    I can’t believe that I missed that they were bringing the Noghri into the new canon.

    Does anyone think it’s possible that we could see a re-tooled version of Zahn’s Heir to the Empire trilogy in the new canon.

    I agree that if you can get McDiarmid to do the voice of the Emperor than you get him. Also Witwer may not be under contract for Season 4 with the death of Maul so if there’s no cost benefit to using Witwer it would also make sense for them to get McDiarmid.

    I assumed that was one of the main reasons they used Stanton for Obi-wan instead of bringing back James Armold Taylor. Stanton was already under contract and working on the show and so there was a cost benefit to using Stanton over having to bring in James Arnold Taylor for just one episode.

    • May 11, 2017 at 9:03 pm
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      “Does anyone think it’s possible that we could see a re-tooled version of Zahn’s Heir to the Empire trilogy in the new canon.”

      The problem with that is timeline. Thrawn can’t be in the Original Trilogy in such a significant way and it was said that after Jakku galaxy had almost 30 years of piece. Now, if they make Chiss long living in the new canon, after the sequel trilogy…? Possible. More Thrawn is always welcome, but I think they (read: Zahn) would have to come up with the new story.

      • May 11, 2017 at 9:50 pm
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        I had forgotten about the caveat that there was almost 30 years of peace after Jakku.

        • May 13, 2017 at 8:34 pm
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          “Relative peace” lol

      • May 13, 2017 at 8:33 pm
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        Did you read the new “Thrawn”? How they left that book off I have a feeling The Chiss are about to become a very big part of the new EU and maybe even the movies being located near The First Order.

        • May 13, 2017 at 8:42 pm
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          I’ve read it and I really hope that this is the case (though I doubt that this new version of Thrawn would want anything to do with FO). This is also why I don’t believe they’ll kill Thrawn in Rebels.

    • May 12, 2017 at 2:30 am
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      No. Rukh is coming to kill Thrawn.

      • May 12, 2017 at 2:45 am
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        What’s that based on? In the one image I’ve seen of him he’s fighting Ezra and (most likely) Kanan. I’m not saying he can’t be coming after Thrawn I’m just saying that there’s no evidence either way in anything I’ve seen that he is A) working for Thrawn or B) coming after Thrawn.

        • May 12, 2017 at 1:14 pm
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          Rukh kills Thrawn in the old EU.

        • May 12, 2017 at 5:50 pm
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          Based on the original Thrawn trilogy where Rukh killed Thrawn. Seems odd if they bring back such a minor character for any other reason.

          • May 13, 2017 at 8:31 pm
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            If you read the new novel Thrawn is playing a very different role this time around. I very much doubt he will die on the show.

          • May 15, 2017 at 2:10 am
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            I read the new novel and yet I don’t see how that saves him from being killed by Rukh?

      • May 13, 2017 at 3:05 pm
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        Let’s hope they didn’t bring Thrawn only to kill him after 2 seasons of Rebels and one novel. I really hope Rukh is a red herring. In EU Vader offered Noghri services to Thrawn, maybe that is what is happening here and they have just met shortly before the Rebels.

      • May 13, 2017 at 8:30 pm
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        After reading his book I don’t think they will off Thrawn in Rebels. Maybe he gets exiled or goes back to his people but with his goals stated in the book I think he will be around for a while. And really hope we see Eli again soon.

        • May 15, 2017 at 2:10 am
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          Possibly. Possibly not. just a theory.

    • May 12, 2017 at 3:09 am
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      To be fair, as much as I like JAT’s prequel ObiWan, Stanton’s line reads were a much better match to Guiness too.

      • May 12, 2017 at 3:13 am
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        Oh I agree that Stanton’s version was an amazing Guiness/Old Ben Kenobi. I’ve never heard Taylor’s version of Guiness/Old Ben so I can’t compare ,but Stanton was definitely doing some amazing work there. I think his Guiness is better than his Cushing, and I really like his Tarkin.

    • May 13, 2017 at 8:28 pm
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      I’m still holding out hope we get to see some Yslarmi. And this time around Thrawn’s goals seem much different so I’m very curious to see what he will do after Rebels. I’m guessing he will just leave the Empire to go back to his people. If he lives that is. And no one ever really said anything about a Chiss lifespan so the whole race cold easily make it into the next movie.

      • May 13, 2017 at 8:46 pm
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        About Ysalamiri – Dave Filoni said that they don’t comply with the Lucas’ version of the Force in which everything is part of the Force and therefore can be affected by it. This is the reason they will not appear in their EU version. The same goes for Yuuzan Vong, if they appear they will be significantly different.

  • May 11, 2017 at 9:11 pm
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    “Since Rebels takes place only a few years before the final days of Palpatine, my guess is that Ian might be used as the voice of Senator Palpatine or just a younger Emperor in a flashback.”

    But this doesn’t make much sense. He already played the old Emperor 35 years ago. And now he’s actually a cackling old man instead of just a younger actor pretending to be one like Witwer.

  • May 11, 2017 at 9:12 pm
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    The Emperor deserves his own f%$kin film let alone ‘lines’.

    • May 11, 2017 at 9:29 pm
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      Lords of the Sith would have made a great film.

      It still could happen. Both the novels and comics of TFA and R1 are considered canon. Thus if a film can be converted to a book, a book can be converted to a film.

      • May 11, 2017 at 9:32 pm
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        Not read it,tbh I regard SW a as firmly cinematic experience, although I have heard good things.I might delve in yet.

      • May 13, 2017 at 8:24 pm
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        So many books would make good films. It’s just the time they take place and having the books with actors that haven’t already aged too much.

      • May 13, 2017 at 8:25 pm
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        I say redo Darth Plageuous and make a single film out of that with Ian being the star.

  • May 11, 2017 at 11:12 pm
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    Everyone needs a little more Ian McDiarmid in their lives!!

  • May 11, 2017 at 11:28 pm
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    give him a movie already

    • May 13, 2017 at 8:23 pm
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      Loved the book Plagueous even though isn’t canon and came before they knew his first name was Sheev. But I’d love to see that on the big screen. Or some type of adaptation but fixing to fit in the new EU.

  • May 11, 2017 at 11:47 pm
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    I would assume Witwer only did the voice for the Emperor in season 2 simply because it was such a short cameo.
    There would be no need to bring in Ian for such a short role + he is likely more expensive than Witwer (who was already on the show).

  • May 12, 2017 at 12:38 am
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    On Clone Wars Ahmed Best recorded lines for Jar Jar while another actor performed as the character on other episodes.

  • May 12, 2017 at 12:40 am
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    I would have liked to have heard Curry’s version but this is even better.

  • May 12, 2017 at 2:29 am
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    Changing him makes sense if suddenly Mcdiarmid wants to do it.

  • May 12, 2017 at 2:50 am
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    Now bring Palps/ McDiarmid back for the sequel trilogy- Snoke and Kylo are just a poor imitation of the Emperor & Vader anyway..

    • May 13, 2017 at 8:22 pm
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      I can see Palpatine making a Sith Holocron over his life that would bring him back to the big screen.

  • May 12, 2017 at 3:24 pm
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    Sam Witwer did do the voice of the Emperor in Battlefront 2 – Maud Garrett confirmed it on her youtube video about the game recording during Star Wars Celebration – she said she text him and he confirmed it. (Look up her Geek Bomb youtube channel)

  • May 12, 2017 at 6:00 pm
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    What? Maul has died? No, that’s not true…

    • May 13, 2017 at 8:20 pm
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      Just wait until you see the huge battle he dies in. lol

      • October 2, 2017 at 2:24 am
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        If he didn’t die after being cut in half and falling down a massive hole in TPM, I don’t believe he’s dead now… 🙂

        • October 2, 2017 at 6:49 pm
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          This time you actually see it happen. lol. But his mother did like to bring things back from the dead… Though she’s gone now too. lol

  • May 12, 2017 at 6:15 pm
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    He is the senate after all

  • May 12, 2017 at 6:45 pm
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    As much as i love Sam if you have the chance to get the definitive palpatine in the show you jump at it.

  • May 12, 2017 at 7:12 pm
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    It would make sense if they couldn’t get Mcdiarmid in for that episode because they already had both James Earl Jones and Billy Dee Williams. Likely they didn’t have the time or money to get him for such a short scene but if the opportunity arose later they’d use it.

  • May 13, 2017 at 8:19 pm
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    I’m thinking he was recording for something new. Unless they go back and change his voice in old episodes which I doubt.

  • May 16, 2017 at 3:53 am
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    Hmm, use the original voice when the actor is available or use Witwer’s impression again? Gee, I wonder which they’d go with… 😛

    • October 2, 2017 at 7:58 pm
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      Welll….since Witwer can give them multiple voices in a single recording session, and it’s been clear from the beginning that money is very tight on Rebels, it wouldn’t be unheard of to see them go with Witwer instead. It’s the same reason you sometimes get actors for things like modern Loony Tunes cartoons who might not have the absolute top impersonation of one given character, but they CAN handle a whole bunch of characters acceptably well in a single session.

  • May 17, 2017 at 4:30 pm
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    Samual L Jackson did Windu’s voice, and Christopher Lee did Dooku’s voice in the TCW movie. They both were later replaced with VO actors.

    Luckily for us, Filoni has had access to the original Movie actors frequently for his SW shows, and for us that is a treat. There is nothing like the real thing. I’m a Witner fanboy, but he’s Maul to me, not Palpatine. Sure he chipped in and did some Emperor work when needed, but its not his primary role at all. So I for one am very glad to see Ian MacDermid take up the Rebels role. Plus lets face it, he really does great job as the Emperor.

    Plus this adds him to the list of Movie actors who have lent their talent to the LF Animation shows (TCW/Rebels).

    C3PO, Windu, Dooku, QuiGon, Shmi, JarJar, Lando, Vader, Mon Mothra, Saw, Valorum, R2D2, Chopper, etc…

    • October 2, 2017 at 7:55 pm
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      Just a note – almost right, but flip it. The CW regular cast recorded the dialogue initially, which is what the animators worked to. At a very, very late stage of the game, shortly before the film was in theaters, those performances were replaced by Jackson and Lee (which is why the performances are a little…odd; they’re reading dialogue to finished animation that was based on someone ELSE’S line readings).

  • October 2, 2017 at 4:39 am
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    “one big problem, Emperor Palpatine already appeared in Rebels Season 2, and was voiced by Sam Witwer.”
    – Er, no that’s not a problem at all, let alone a big one. The first choice is always the original actor providing the voice.

  • October 2, 2017 at 4:39 am
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    The SENATE!!!

  • October 2, 2017 at 7:52 pm
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    Good News! Ian is voicing the Emperor! Bad News! It’s Emperor Piglatine again!

  • October 3, 2017 at 1:42 am
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    hope they shoehorn a bit of Palps into Han Solo in some cranky fashion. Love a bit of proper Palps

    however holy smoke this Witwer fella does a great cover version

  • October 3, 2017 at 5:37 pm
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    I love Sam Witwer but it seems that their strategy when it comes to Palps is, if it’s in one of the movies, it’s Ian. So I’m thinking TLJ or maybe Han but I doubt that. Or something else entirely but if they are using Ian it’s a big thing not a small one.
    U: Especially because 10 months ago they were doing Post for TLJ which is when VO would be done.

  • October 4, 2017 at 2:26 am
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    Hope its the scary battlefront messenger droid

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