Emperor Palpatine is the most evil man in the galaxy and the most fun.

Here’s to his return in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

Luke Skywalkers jaunt beyond the horizons of his Tatooine homestead results in knotty familial problems and a severed hand.

Nor do the villains have all the fun.

Darth Vaders cool demeanor masks the shattered remains of a once noble warrior on life support.

In short, Palpatines the only character in theStar Warssaga who actually has any fun.

Little does the Jedi Order know that Palpatine and the evil Darth Sidious are one and the same.

That nobody seems to notice how sinister and lizard-eyed Palpatine is only adds to his hypnotic watchability.

Here, McDiarmid imagines Palpatine as a cross between a calculating bureaucrat and a coiled rattlesnake.

You and he arent the same guy, are you?

Instead, Anakin just sort of knits his eyebrows in that Hayden Christensen way.

From this scene onwards, Palpatine promptly whisked the film from beneath everyones noses.

Imagine how dull these scenes would be without McDiarmid hungrily wrapping his lips around every word.

Listen to the way he spits out lines like Fully operational battle station!

and Pitiful band of friends!

and imagine any other actor uttering them with such unforgettable ferocity.

So the whole film is about the unnecessary rise of fascism.

Without getting over-extended about it, that is at the heart of these movies.

Its almost scary to think that McDiarmid almost never got the Palpatine role at all.

Maybe they need a great nose.

And of course it peeked out rather nicely from below that black hood.

From that moment on,Return of the Jedihad its Palpatine.

If Darth Vader was a corrupted father figure, Palpatine was the loathsome, maniacal grandparent.

Look at thispitifulbowl of cereal!)

Palpatines presence inBattlefrontis an example of how quietly you might say insidiously the characters sneaked into our affections.

Boba Fett may be an oft-cited fan favorite, but the hooded Emperor is surely close behind.

The crowd, quite understandably, went into an absolute frenzy, forcing the actor to make ahurried retraction.

McDiarmid said above the rising clamor.

But he didnt, unfortunately.

Listen, ladies and gentlemen.

Ive been dead for the last thirty years.

I can confirm that George was quite categorical.

Wed certainly argue that the galaxy is a far less complicated and less entertaining place without him.

The full schedule of Star Wars movie releases can be found here.