Our friends at JediNews have received some inside information that Ian McDiarmid is rumored to be reprising his role as Darth Sidious/Emperor Palpatine in Episode VII. Exactly how he will be brought back from “the dead” is an interesting plot device to say the least. Could he be a spirit akin to Obi-Wan in TESB and ROTJ, imparting his knowledge of the dark side to some new apprentice? Perhaps he will possess Luke Skywalker some how and the children of our heroes from the original trilogy must redeem him. Could they pull a bit from the Expanded Universe’s Dark Empire storyline where Palpatine created a clone of himself in order to achieve immortality?

The possibilities and speculation are endless but remember, nothing is official unless Disney and Lucasfilm say so.]

Oh, and Happy Birthday today to Ian McDiarmid – a fitting story to be sure.