Ian McDiarmid Talks Failed Emperor Palpatine TV Series
- Dan Lalonde
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
Which 'Star Wars' character do you wish had a spinoff television series? How about Jar Jar Binks in a 'Breaking Bad' like show where Binks sells Naboo crystal meth to Droids. Heck they can save money by filming at Main and Hastings in Vancouver and get free background extras.
Ian McDiarmid talked to an audience at Spacecon 2026 about George Lucas' plans for a failed TV series based on McDiarmid's evil Emperor Palpatine. No, it's not 'The Space Apprentice.'
McDiarmid said: "[George Lucas] was talking about, I think I can tell you now, a television series. At the time, we didn't think about Star Wars in terms of a television series. Very speculative. We had lunch one day, and he said, 'I've got this idea, and I hope you might want to be involved. We could sort of follow the Emperor's progress, like Hitler's, some of that. There might be an assassination attempt, and of course it wouldn't succeed.'"
The show is said to be 'Star Wars Underworld,' which was rumored to be sixty episodes at the hefty price tag of $40 million per episode. Unfortunately, Lucas sold the rights to 'Star Wars' to Disney before its production made any progress.
"It sounded really exciting," McDiarmid finished. "And he also said that maybe you could direct one, and then I fainted. But sadly, that didn’t come to pass." I think it's about time to get the franchise back in George Lucas' control, as nothing has felt like 'Star Wars' since the prequels.
Do you want more Emperor Palpatine in live action? Comment below with your thoughts.
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Written By: Dan Lalonde
Photo Credit: Lucasfilm
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