While many people love Star Wars, the writing isn’t always strong. Harrison Ford famously confronted George Lucas about this during filming of the original movies. The prequels also received criticism for their dialogue, with Anakin’s complaints about sand being a particularly awkward example. However, one line stands out as especially cringeworthy: Oscar Isaac’s delivery of “Somehow, Palpatine returned” in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
Oscar Isaac recently told Josh Horowitz about the now-infamous line from the film, explaining it was added during last-minute reshoots. He described the reshoots as a rushed attempt to finish the movie, and said the line was a late addition. Isaac admitted he didn’t expect the line to become so well-known or representative of the whole film, but he definitely delivered it with frustration.
Why “Somehow, Palpatine Returned” Got Added to The Rise of Skywalker
It’s strangely funny to discover this whole scene was added later, apparently while the filmmakers were struggling to figure out the movie’s plot. The Rise of Skywalker focused on bringing Palpatine back to life, but Lucasfilm felt they hadn’t explained how well enough. Surprisingly, they tried to fix it by adding a scene that basically points out the confusing parts. Poe Dameron’s lines were likely meant to lead into an explanation from Beaumont Kin, but the real impact comes from what Poe says initially.
As a long-time Star Wars fan, I’ve been watching Lucasfilm spend the last seven years trying to justify how Palpatine returned in the sequel trilogy. It’s become clear that The Bad Batch subtly shifted gears to lay the groundwork for this return with its ‘Project Necromancer’ storyline – that project being the key to bringing the Emperor back. We’ve even heard the project’s name mentioned in The Mandalorian, and it turns out Grogu is involved because the Empire wanted to exploit his unique midi-chlorian levels. While it makes sense to integrate Palpatine’s return into the larger Star Wars story, all this retroactive continuity honestly just draws attention to the original issues with how it was handled in the first place.
The making of the Star Wars sequel trilogy wasn’t easy, and both John Boyega and Oscar Isaac have talked about the difficulties they faced. Isaac, like Boyega, has increasingly shared his concerns, and it’s clear he recognized issues – like the late addition of Palpatine’s return – especially when reshoots were required. It seems Lucasfilm also began to realize the story wasn’t working, but they had already invested too much time and money to change course.
The story needed a major overhaul to really work. While Star Wars has shown it can bring characters back – Darth Maul is a prime example, even having his own animated series after his death in The Phantom Menace – any resurrection needs a good reason and has to feel earned. Unfortunately, The Rise of Skywalker didn’t quite succeed in making it believable.
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2026-04-20 18:15