Biggest Unanswered Questions In The Rise Of Skywalker

Until Disney decides to release another trilogy in the mainline series, Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker is the final bow on the 42-year package that is the Skywalker Saga. And while it answers a lot of longstanding questions, it also raises just as many questions as it answers. Here are some of the big ones, and — of course — spoilers are ahead.

One burning question the movie answers within its opening minutes is whether Emperor Palpatine is alive. And he is! He's not a force ghost and not identified as a clone. He's the full-on flesh-and-blood Sheev Palpatine, being kept alive by a very tall, mechanical life support system.

Nothing he communicates to Kylo Ren, Rey or General Pryde mention any words about how he survived being thrown down a giant pit at the end of Return of the Jedi. Nobody bothers to ask him, either. Everybody who now knows the emperor is back including Luke Skywalker's force ghost, who you'd think would really be curious to learn how Palpatine made it out of that pickle just kind of rolls with it. Even the Resistance spends only a few minutes being incredulous before simply accepting Palpatine is alive and kicking.

Rise of Skywalker's biggest revelation is the truth of Rey's parentage. After meeting Palpatine on the Sith planet Exegol, Kylo Ren learns that what he knew about Rey's parents was only partially true: Yes, they sold her. Yes, they were basically nobody. But it was all intentional. They made themselves anonymous and left Rey behind because her father was Emperor Palpatine's son, making Rey the Emperor's granddaughter.

But hold up a minute: Emperor Palpatine had a son? When? Let's try to work it out: If the Emperor's family ages like other humans, Rey is probably in her early 20s by the time Rise of Skywalker takes place, which would mean her father would probably have been born 40 to 50 years earlier, given how he looks in the flashbacks. So Palpatine Jr. would have probably been born sometime between the prequel trilogy and the original trilogy. So where was he during the original trilogy? Who was his mother? Was the younger Palpatine a clone, like his illegitimate son in the old Extended Universe? It isn't addressed, so your guesses are as good as anyone else's. Keep watching the video to see the biggest unanswered questions in The Rise of Skywalker!

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How did Palpatine survive? | 0:20
When did Palplatine have a son? | 1:11
Why did Palpatine wait so long? | 2:15
How did C-3PO know the Sith language? | 3:03
Who are those people in the cave? | 4:06
Isn't Rey technically the empress now? | 4:48