‘Star Wars’ Outrage Grows After ‘Rise of Skywalker’ Novel Reveals Truth About Rey’s Father

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“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” was a huge disappointment among film critics, but the negative critical reception to the movie is nothing compared to the reaction greeting “Star Wars” in the wake of the film’s novelization. The upcoming “Rise of Skywalker” novel from writer Rae Carson will be available to own starting March 17, but copies of the book showed up at Chicago’s C2E2 convention last week. The novel includes controversial new information that answers questions left by J.J. Abrams’ “Rise of Skywalker” theatrical cut. The book has made headlines this week for revealing how Palpatine returned (he transferred his consciousness into a clone of himself) and confirming Rey and Kylo’s climactic kiss was not romantic. A new report from ScreenRant might contain the book’s most jaw-dropping and head-scratching revelation: Rey’s father was a failed clone of Palpatine.

“The Rise of Skywalker” ends with Rey discovering she is the granddaughter of Palpatine. The reveal hinted at Palpatine having a lover who gave birth to his child, but the novelization of the film confirms that’s not the case. After Palpatine’s apparent death in “Return of the Jedi,” he “thrust his consciousness” into a clone body but “the transfer was imperfect.” Various members of the Sith worked to create a host for Palpatine’s consciousness, but not all of these host bodies were successful. One of the failed hosts was “useless” and “powerless” and “a not-quite-idenitcal clone” of the Sith Lord. The clone body was not strong enough to host Palpatine, but it was strong enough to live a life and become Rey’s father.

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Backlash to all the recent “Star Wars” reveals had been growing over the last couple days, but negative responses exploded on social media once Rey’s father was revealed to be a failed Palpatine clone. Uproxx’s senior entertainment writer Mike Ryan said the latest reveal made “Rise of Skywalker” the “worst ‘Star Wars’ movie” ever made.

What’s next for “Star Wars” on the big screen remains unclear. The franchise had a much-needed win with the launch of the TV series “The Mandalorian” last fall. The show will return for a second season in the fall. Disney is also developing “Star Wars” shows centered around Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan Kenobi and Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor. The next “Star Wars” film has not officially been announced, although Kevin Feige, Rian Johnson, and “Sleight” filmmaker J.D. Dillard are all rumored to be in the fold with new projects.

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