this post was submitted on 20 Oct 2025
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xkcd #3157: Emperor Palpatine (europe.pub)
submitted 1 week ago by xkcdbot@lemmy.world to c/xkcd@lemmy.world
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xkcd #3157: Emperor Palpatine

Title text:

Many things about Star Wars were not well planned out, but having a 37-year-old in old-age makeup play the Emperor in Return of the Jedi was such an incredible call.

Transcript:

Transcript will show once it’s been added to explainxkcd.com

Source: https://xkcd.com/3157/

explainxkcd for #3157

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[–] radix@lemmy.world 27 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Palpatine

[–] marcos@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

But somehow he is still old and scarred.

[–] uriel238@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 week ago

Nothing AI can't fix (badly).

[–] geekwithsoul@piefed.social 12 points 1 week ago (1 children)

New from Disney… "Sith Babies! Two there should be. No more, no less. Why? Because they're the terrible twos!"

[–] zaphodb2002@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I would absolutely watch a toddler Sheev, Dooku, and Maul cartoon. Like Rugrats, but they're all scheming to kill each other. Anakin is a baby a la Dyl.

[–] VindictiveJudge@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

Who is Angelica?

[–] s@piefed.world 7 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I can’t find a film date, but McDiarmid was filmed for the special edition of Empire Strikes Back as the hologram of Palpatine. If you want to be exhaustive, the actor (voice acting or otherwise) also has canon appearances as the character in Rebels, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Tales of the Jedi, and The Bad Batch.

Edit: Oh, how could I forget? The Exegol Broadcast as heard in the Fortnite X Star Wars event is considered canon, and the Fortnite fan wiki cites McDiarmid as the voice actor (I genuinely could not find a better source).