Ian McDiarmid, who played Palpatine in five ‘Star Wars’ films, says ‘there was never any discussion’ about how the Emperor sired children: ‘Does this evil monster ever have sex?’

Ian McDiarmid, who played the Sith Lord in five films, says “there was never any discussion” about his character gettin’ busy despite him having at least one son.

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Star Wars team never told Palpatine actor how the Emperor had kids: ‘Does this evil monster ever have sex?’
Ian McDiarmid, who played the Sith Lord in five films, says “there was never any discussion” about his character gettin’ busy despite him having at least one son.

By Wesley Stenzel Published on April 26, 2025 06:01PM EDT
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Ian McDiarmid as Emperor Palpatine in ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’
Ian McDiarmid as Emperor Palpatine in ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’.
Credit: Disney
Has Emperor Palpatine ever been able to, ahem, do it?

Ian McDiarmid can’t say for sure. In an interview commemorating the 20th anniversary of Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, the actor behind Darth Sidious said he never talked to any of the directors of the Star Wars films in which he appeared — George Lucas, Richard Marquand, or J.J. Abrams — about whether his villainous character ever executed Order 69.

“There was never any discussion of any of that,” McDiarmid told Variety, referring to the Emperor having sex. “It was up to me to work it out in my head.”

Star Wars never presented a reason to even consider Palpatine’s sex life until its final movie, 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker, which resurrected the Emperor after he was presumed dead in 1983’s Return of the Jedi and revealed that the sequel trilogy’s protagonist, Rey (Daisy Ridley), was actually his long-lost granddaughter.

McDiarmid did remember discussing a different conception with Lucas, but it didn’t directly involve his character. “There was talk in The Phantom Menace about something called midichlorians, which were involved somehow in Anakin’s birth,” he recalled.

“George didn’t want to go too deeply into that. But we reckoned it was kind of virgin birth, though one ought not to say that because God knows you get all sorts of complications.”