In 2019, Disney brought Star Wars' Skywalker Saga to its conclusion in The Rise of Skywalker. The final installment proved divisive among fans, however, with more than a few moments failing to land in the way the filmmakers had probably hoped. The internet was soon filled with strong opinions on Rey claiming the Skywalker name, Chewbacca's death fake-out, the reveal of Hux as a spy and Rose Tico's diminished role. However, no moment has inspired quite as much backlash -- or as many memes -- as Poe Dameron's three-word explanation of the Emperor's resurrection: "Somehow, Palpatine returned."
Small fragments of explanation have been offered elsewhere in the franchise, scattered throughout the expanding Star Wars mythos. Poe's initial explanation is met with mentions of "cloning, dark science, secrets only the Sith knew." The novelization of The Rise of Skywalker elaborated further, with confirmation that Palpatine transferred his consciousness into a clone body at the moment of his death. Other Star Wars media has also given various hints as to the Emperor's contingencies surrounding his death, but again, these details always came in scraps, never quite revealing the full scope of Palpatine's plan for the Empire's survival. Now, however, an official full account of Palpatine's contingency plan has been explained in one place.
In a new Star Wars Inside Intel feature on StarWars.com, Lucasfilm junior creative executive Emily Shkoukani has given the full account of Palpatine's survival, as well as his plans for the foundations of the First and Final Orders. The piece compiles all the information provided so far on the Contingency -- the official name for Palpatine's grand plan to cheat death and return to power -- tracing it from its origins in early novels from the new canon, such as Star Wars: Lost Stars and the Aftermath trilogy, all the way to its fruition and ultimate undoing in The Rise of Skywalker. The piece joins the dots between these various accounts of Palpatine's plans for the event of his death, creating a comprehensive picture of the Dark Lord of the Sith's designs on the galaxy beyond the end of the Empire.
When first introduced in Lost Stars and the Aftermath novels, long before Palpatine's return had been planned for The Rise of Skywalker, the Contingency was simply presented as Palpatine's "scorched earth" policy to destroy all that remained of the Empire and the forces of the Rebellion in the event of his death. It included the execution of Operation: Cinder as its first act, as referenced in The Mandalorian and shown in the game Star Wars Battlefront II. This military operation wrought acts of mass devastation and planetary destruction across the galaxy, thereby eliminating liabilities and punishing the Empire for failing its Emperor. As the new account notes, the brutality of Operation: Cinder actually saw many Imperials defect to the New Republic.
Amidst this final destruction of the Empire, Palpatine had laid plans for a small number of Imperials to retreat to the Unknown Regions, so as to begin work on building a new and superior Empire -- the basis for the Sequel Trilogy's First Order. As this successor to the Empire began to take shape far from the prying eyes of the New Republic, elsewhere, Palpatine was toiling to regain his own strength in another of the galaxy's shadows. The feature on StarWars.com states: "For many years prior to his demise, Palpatine sought immortality on the Sith planet of Exegol." Marvel's Star Wars: Darth Vader comic series even offered a look at Palpatine's experiments in cloning and immortality on Exegol, being conducted long before his death.
Despite the many years dedicated to these dark experiments, however, Palpatine apparently never perfected the process. His contingency aimed to bring the galaxy under his eternal rule as "an immortal Sith," but the clone body into which he transferred his consciousness "was too weak to contain him." The Star Wars Inside Intel feature goes on to explain how Palpatine's continued experimentation eventually resulted in the birth of Rey, identifying her as the daughter of one of his "strand-casts." Strand-casts were genetically engineered beings, such as the Sequel Trilogy's Supreme Leader Snoke. The revelation that Rey's father was a strand-cast grown from Palpatine's genetic code -- first established in the Rise of Skywalker novelization and reaffirmed in this official account of Palpatine's Contingency -- contrasts with Kylo Ren's reference to Rey's father as "the son of the Emperor." However, this explanation of Rey's father's origins offers some more feasible answers to Star Wars fans' burning -- or perhaps reluctant -- questions as to how and when Palpatine fathered a child.
This official overview of Palpatine's final contingency plan reveals in full the story of the Emperor's journey from his apparent death in Return of the Jedi to his revival on Exegol in The Rise of Skywalker. While it is a shame more of this story was not explored in the Sequel Trilogy, fans now at least have a clear guide to this new area of Star Wars lore.