When the uber-evil Emperor Palpatine somehow returned in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, fans understandably had questions. Who wouldn’t? Palpatine seemed super dead when Darth Vader hurled him into the Death Star’s reactor shaft in Return of the Jedi — but as we’d all learn later, Palpatine had a contigency. His master plan involved cloning technology and a puppet leader that would rule in his stead until he was strong enough to return to a corporeal form.
