According to the special make-up effects supervisor for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, no Palpatine scenes were left out of the movie.
Palpatine’s big return was one of the key components of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and the evil Sith Lord didn’t disappoint. However, with recent talk of what may or may not have been left out of the movie in the editing room, apparently, there were no scenes of Palpatine that were cut.
Some suspected their might have been more footage of Darth Sidious but according to special make-up effects supervisor Neal Scanlan, he doesn’t believe this was the case. Speaking to Yahoo, he said:
“I don’t think there’s anything you haven’t really seen. J.J. would always shoot variations on scenes — that’s the natural moviemaking process. But to my knowledge there’s no alternative version [of Palpatine’s story]. We change camera angles, we change lighting, maybe there’s a dialogue variation. It’s just naturally what we do.”
He went on to discuss actor Ian McDiarmid’s performance on set: “He was totally game for everything. We did some digital augmentation for some shots, but for the most part we hung onto his performance. He’s fantastic.”
Whatever the case may be, Palpatine was revealed to be the puppet master once more, terrorizing the galaxy from afar with his mysterious Sith loyalists. Hopefully, he’s down for good this time!
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker sees J.J. Abrams (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) directing a cast that includes Star Wars veterans Daisy Ridley (Rey), Adam Driver (Kylo Ren), John Boyega (Finn), Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron), Lupita Nyong’o (Maz Kanata), Domhnall Gleeson (General Hux), Kelly Marie Tran (Rose Tico), Joonas Suotamo (Chewbacca), Billie Lourd (Lieutenant Connix), Greg Grunberg (Snap Wexley), Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrissian), Ian McDiarmid (Emperor Palpatine) and Carrie Fisher (Leia Organa) as well as new additions Naomi Ackie (Lady Macbeth), Richard E. Grant (Logan), Dominic Monaghan (Lost), and Keri Russell (The Americans).
