Star Wars Palpatine actor Ian McDiarmid ‘thought he’d gone much too far’ in Revenge of the Sith duel

Ian McDiarmid “thought [he’d] gone too much too far” during his Palpatine vs Mace Windu duel in ‘Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith’.

The 80-year-old actor - who has portrayed Emperor Palpatine in the sci-fi saga since 1983’s ‘Return of the Jedi’ - battled Jedi master Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson) during director George Lucas’ 2005 prequel blockbuster, though has now admitted he thought he had overdone it during the fight.

He told Variety: “I thought I’d gone much too far, and George said, ’No, no, you can go much further.’ It’s the moment when the monster becomes available and he is ecstatic with delight because he can lose the hypocritical face.

“When we were doing ‘The Phantom Menace’, George said, ‘You should think of your face as a carapace’ - as if we’d made me up, and underneath was the real person. That was great, because to believe that my own face and voice were utterly manufactured was a huge help.”

McDiarmid added he found playing Palpatine in ‘Revenge of the Sith’ to be “more satisfying”, as he got to work more closely with Anakin Skywalker actor Hayden Christensen and featured more in the story.

He said: “I had more to do in ‘Revenge of the Sith’ - I had more screen time, more time with Hayden - so that was more satisfying.

“I also had no idea that Palpatine would have power with a weapon, so to find that he was very good - to give my stunt double full credit - with a saber was interesting.”

Even so, McDiarmid recalled Palpatine’s arc from a scheming senator to the authoritarian galactic dictator “wasn’t mapped out at all” when he was brought back for the ‘Star Wars’ prequel trilogy with 1999’s ‘The Phantom Menace’.

He explained: “When I first got the part, I had no idea what the world was that I’d be in charge of as the Emperor.

“So it started off as a big mystery. I had no idea that Palpatine would figure [into the story so heavily]. But by then, it so happened that I was young enough to play the younger senator.

“When I first met George about it, he said, ‘Do you know anyone who wants to play an Emperor?’ I said, ‘I think you know the answer to that question.’

“And then I got the script and realized that he was more than one character, which made it even more fascinating to play - an ordinary, everyday, fairly hypocritical politician with a monster hiding inside his body.”

After ‘Revenge of the Sith’, McDiarmid returned again in 2019’s ‘The Rise of Skywalker’ to do battle with Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Ben Solo (Adam Driver), though the Sith Lord’s unexpected comeback was met with backlash from some fans.

While McDiarmid “thought there might be a bit of a fuss about bringing [Palpatine] back” after his apparent death in ‘Return of the Jedi’, the actor insisted “it seemed entirely probable that Palpatine had a plan B”.

Speaking about the controversy. The actor said: “Well, there’s always something, isn’t there? I don’t read that stuff and I’m not online. So it’ll only reach me if someone mentions it.

“I thought there might be a bit of a fuss about bringing him back. But as I said, mine and Palpatine’s logic was entirely reasonable. This man who was horribly maimed thought maybe one day it might happen to him, and we’ve got to have a plan B.

“I loved the whole idea that he should come back and be even more powerful than he was before. Though this time, he had to be utterly destroyed. So I think he’s dead.”