Star Wars Celebration is finally behind us. But even after watching the explosive first trailer for Episode IX, now officially titled Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, watching the panel, and listening to interviews there are still a lot of questions that have gone unanswered. While many of us have already theorized on what the title could mean, another question on everybody’s mind is what does Emperor Palpatine’s menacing laugh at the end of the teaser trailer mean for our heroes.

After the trailer was shown to attendees the lights came on to reveal Ian McDiarmid, the actor who has portrayed Palpatine since The Return of the Jedi and in all of the subsequent prequels. It pretty much confirmed that the Sith Lord would be back, at least in some capacity. While this was a surprise to many of us, the move was in the works for a long time. More on the report below.

Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy spoke to Yahoo! Entertainment’s Kevin Polowy. In the interview, she shared her thoughts on the title of The Rise of Skywalker and Palpatine’s return:

Kathleen Kennedy says Palpatine's return was in the blueprint for a long time. "We had not landed on exactly how we might do that, but it was always [to be in Episode IX]." pic.twitter.com/SDqqKHgJ7C

— Kevin Polowy (@djkevlar) April 12, 2019

Speaking about that Palpatine surprise, Kennedy told Polowy that the Emperor’s inclusion had been in the works for “a very long time.” Director J.J. Abrams said that working with McDiarmid was “one of the most wonderful experiences” that he has ever had. He described him as a “breathtakingly good actor.”

Be sure to check out our previous coverage of this year’s Star Wars Celebration, if interested.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker opens in theaters on December 20, 2019.