 The prequels had him play two faces to his character; he re-created his diabolical interpretation of Palpatine from "Return of the Jedi" when playing Darth Sidious, the Chancellor's Sith alter ego, but created a pleasant, charming character in Palpatine's public persona.McDiarmid returned to the role of Palpatine on screen for the first time since "Revenge of the Sith" in the 2019 film "The Rise of Skywalker", the third film in the sequel trilogy, and the ninth and final episode in the Skywalker saga.In the 2004 re-release of "The Empire Strikes Back", a brief scene between Darth Vader and a hologram of Emperor Palpatine was updated to include McDiarmid.