The Rise of Skywalker revealed a clone of Palpatine hiding on Exegol, but what had the Sith Lord been up to since his defeat on the Death Star II?

Emperor Palpatine returns inStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, but neither Rey nor Kylo Ren fully learn what he has been doingin the thirty years since his death. Released intermittently over the course of 42 years, the Skywalker saga's storyline spans 67 years in-universe, covering the lives of three generations of the Skywalker family. However, the widerStar Wars universe is vast, and much of its history takes place on the order of tens of thousands of years, especially in theformerly-officialStar Wars Legends continuity. Emperor Palpatine, in spanning the film franchise and channeling eons of Sith legacy, bridges these two timescales.

The first two films of the sequel trilogy present Supreme Leader Snoke and Kylo Ren as the primary antagonists, but after Snoke's death inStar Wars: The Last Jedi, a power vacuum opens in the First Order that Ren looks poised to fill. However, it is then revealed byThe Rise of Skywalker in 2019 that, in spite of his apparent death at the Battle of Endor, a revived Darth Sidious had been controlling the workings of the First Order for decades, although his specific actions aren't elaborated upon in the film.

Related: Why Star Wars Recast The Original Palpatine After Empire Strikes Back

As he hurtled toward the core of the Death Star II at the close ofReturn of the Jedi, Palpatine used his formidable control of the Force to throw his spirit across the galaxy to Exegol, where his followers in the Sith Eternal had prepared a cloned body for him to inhabit. The scheming paranoia necessary to take such a precaution is characteristic of the Sith mindset, but the laboratory on Exegol was more of a backup plan than anything, so Sidious didn't immediately take any further steps following Darth Vader's betrayal. Hedid, however, become preoccupied with the faults of his new form, which began to deteriorate under the weight of his evil.

In seekinga way to stabilize their master's condition, the Sith Eternal produced many more failed clone bodies over the course of years, but in doing so, accidentally created a functional, but non-Force-sensitive, one. This "son" would go on tofatherRey, whom Palpatine would come to view as the key to achieving immortality. Inert copies of Snoke, who had been created by Palpatine decades before, were also stored in the facility, showing the Supreme Leader's importance to Palpatine's plan. It was alongside Snoke's more direct influence that Sidious remotely pushed Kylo Ren to the dark side.

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Star Wars: How Long Palpatine Was On Exegol Before Rise of Skywalker - Screen Rant