'Star Wars 9' Leaks Reveal Palpatine's Evil Plan to Resurrect Himself

Even unlimited power has its limits, as we learned at the end of Return of the Jedi, when Emperor Palpatine fell melted face-first into the reactor core of the Death Star. But now that he’s back in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, maybe old Palps was onto something with that whole immortality idea. We still don’t know exactly how the Emperor survived the fall, but a new leak claims to reveal how the weakened villain will stage his comeback in Episode IX using a new type of Sith power.

*Warning! If these leaks are true, they constitute major Star Wars spoilers. You’ve been warned.

The latest leaks come from Making Star Wars, a fan site with a solid reputation for scoops that’s been digging up Rise of Skywalker details at an impressive clip. This time, it’s new information on Sheev Palpatine’s evil plan, shared via the MSW podcast.

According to the MSW leaks, Palpatine shows up early in the movie and meets with Kylo Ren to reveal his latest scheme. Allegedly, it involves turning Kylo and Rey into the Emperor and Empress of a new evil Empire, which is great news for any fans who’ve been shipping Kylo and Rey ever since they shared a Force connection in The Last Jedi.

If you’re thinking this already sounds a little weird, buckle up, because it’s about to get even weirder. Apparently, Kylo and Rey are a sort of dyad representing the negative and positive aspects of the Force. When brought together, the energy they create will be powerful enough to bring the Emperor back to full strength. (It may also create a huge blast of Force lighting that destroys a Resistance ship. Whoops!)

Anyway, that’s where Palp’s evil plan in The Rise of Skywalker is headed. Whether it works or not remains to be seen (we’re guessing it fails), but at the very least, it sounds like a lot of fun to watch.

Meanwhile, here’s a few other exciting Rise of Skywalker leaks from the MSW podcast:

• It turns out that Jannah (a new character played by Naomi Ackie) is also a Stormtrooper who breaks good — meaning Finn will have a new friend in Episode IX.

• Maz Kanata will also return during an early scene on a jungle planet and then reappear at the end for the final battle. But that’s it.

• Rey apparently steals Kylo’s ship and flies it to Ahch-To before blowing it up. From there, it sounds like she’ll end up flying in Luke’s old X-wing. At the very least, she’ll wear his old helmet in one scene.

Finally, here’s a conversation that happens between Luke and Rey (according to MSW):

Rey has ditched Kylo’s ship and tossed the Skywalker saber into the wreckage when Luke catches it.

Luke: “What are you doing?”

Rey: “You were right, you saw the darkness in me.”

Luke: “The Force brought us together. You need to face Sidious as I faced Vader.”

Rey: “I wanted to feel as if I was as strong as Master Leia, but I’m not”

Luke: “You don’t know how strong you are until you know how strong you have to be. Sidious will fill you with fear, with anger, and he’ll use your weaknesses against you.”

Rey: “What are his?”

Luke: “Sidious looked into Vader’s eyes when my father saved me. He couldn’t understand my father’s feelings for me. He thought love was a weakness to be used.”

Exciting stuff! It sounds like Rey may have second thoughts after falling for Palpatine’s trick and then get a pep talk from Luke before returning to defeat the Emperor once and for all. At least, that’s what these leaks seem to suggest, but based on everything we know so far, we wouldn’t be surprised if most of these details turned out to be true.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker hits theaters on December 20, 2019.