Oscar Isaac Clarifies Star Wars 9’s Most-Meme’d Line After Rise Of Skywalker Disappointment

by

Oscar Isaac recently shared the story behind his now-famous line about Palpatine from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

As a huge Star Wars fan, I have to admit, the way they brought Emperor Palpatine back in the sequel trilogy was… jarring. And it really came to a head with a line in the final film, The Rise of Skywalker. Oscar Isaac, who plays Poe Dameron, delivers the line, “Somehow, Palpatine returned,” and honestly, it’s become a bit of a running joke online. It perfectly captures how many of us felt about the story and dialogue in those later films – just… not quite right.

In an interview with Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Isaac shared that the now-famous line, “Somehow, Palpatine returned,” was added during reshoots after filming had already wrapped. He described the process as a quick fix – like “surgical strikes” where the crew had to rapidly adjust and get everything working.

This line was a recent addition, added right at the very end of the process, during a time when things were changing rapidly and there was a lot of activity.

While they were filming, Isaac didn’t realize his brief line about Palpatine would become incredibly popular online and turn into a meme. “I really leaned into the frustration,” he said with a laugh.

I was so fascinated by the details of filming! Apparently, Isaac had to grow his hair back a little bit for some extra scenes they shot later. He’d actually cut it after the first round of filming, so they ended up using a wig for those reshoots. He even joked that, even if some of the lines didn’t quite land perfectly, the wig itself looked “pretty good” on screen, which I thought was funny and endearing!

Those scenes were filmed again. We needed to reshoot them because, looking back, the wig looked okay, and I’d already cut my hair and arrived on set. It was like a quick, targeted fix – everyone was rushing to get things done.

It felt like they just threw something completely new in at the very last second, and honestly, the whole process was pretty chaotic and constantly changing. If you’d asked me then if that new addition would be the defining moment, I wouldn’t have had a clue. But yeah, I definitely went all-in on the frustration – I really played up the exasperation!

In Return of the Jedi, Palpatine is killed by Darth Vader just before the Death Star is destroyed.

The latest Star Wars trilogy, beginning after Return of the Jedi, gradually brings Palpatine back into the story. We first hear his voice in a vision Rey experiences during The Force Awakens. Finally, in The Rise of Skywalker, Rey and Palpatine confront each other, and he is defeated for good.

It’s common for movies to need some extra filming, but Disney’s recent Star Wars sequels faced several difficulties. The final film, in particular, had a rocky production when director J.J. Abrams stepped back in after the original director, Colin Trevorrow, left due to problems with the screenplay.

Upon its release in December 2019, The Rise of Skywalker received a surprisingly low score of 51% on Rotten Tomatoes – the lowest of any Star Wars film. This was a significant drop from the 93% and 91% ratings earned by the first two movies in the sequel trilogy.

Although the third film in the series made over $1 billion, it earned less than the previous two. The Force Awakens brought in $2.07 billion, and The Last Jedi grossed $1.3 billion.

Isaac appears alongside a talented cast in the film, including Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Kelly Marie Tran, Ian McDiarmid, Domhnall Gleeson, Lupita Nyong’o, and Star Wars legends Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, and Billy Dee Williams.

Following the release of The Rise of Skywalker, Oscar Isaac appeared in a variety of popular films and television shows, including The Addams Family 2, Dune, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Frankenstein, Scenes from a Marriage, the Marvel series Moon Knight, and Beef.

Following a break from the big screen after 2019’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the Star Wars universe is heading back to theaters this May with The Mandalorian and Grogu. Another film, Star Wars: Starfighter, is currently scheduled for release in May 2027.

Read More

2026-04-20 20:25