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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 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?'

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. Though it's never directly addressed in any of the films, spinoff Star Wars books have confirmed that Palpatine synthetically created his son, Dathan, who eventually became Rey's father. They clarify that the Emperor didn't use traditional means to sire an heir — instead, he employed cloning technology and Sith powers to create a son, no Sidious sex required.

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