Ian McDiarmid

The character could be returning to the franchise,

Sorry Maclunkey.

For Star Wars Rebels, it all comes down to this. All your questions about each character’s fate and the mysteries of the Force will be answered in February, as Rebels’ fourth and final season sets its final premiere date with an intense, cameo-heavy trailer.

Anyone familiar with the now-defunct Star Wars extended universe knows that characters like Emperor Palpatine are considerably less dead in the books than they are in the movies. With cloning a huge canonical part of the Star Wars mythology, it was only a matter of time before some adventurous writer decided to bring major villains back from the dead; that is how Luke Skywalker ended up facing off against the clones of a young Palpatine (not to mention an evil Luke Skywalker clone). And with Lucasfilm demonstrating a willingness to pick and choose from the extended universe as they see fit, you’d be forgiven for wondering if we’d eventually find out that Palpatine 2.0 was the one pulling all the strings.

We weren’t entirely surprised to hear Star Wars Rebels declaring Season 4 as its last, but our final trip aboard the Ghost may have something more shocking in mind. According to recent rumors, Emperor Palpatine may put in an appearance with a new, albeit familiar voice.

The idea of a 'Star Wars' live-action TV series has been floating through space for so long, it's hard to imagine it could ever see the light of day.  Then again, just a few short years ago the idea of putting several superhero movie franchises into a single film helmed by Joss Whedon seemed equally ludicrous.  Still, if the 'Star Wars' TV series ever makes it to air, what are the odds certain fil