Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker , which is currently pushing toward a $700 million global haul, brought back Skywalker Saga villain Emperor Palpatine for the story's endgame, pitting him and his Final Order Fleet against Rey and the Resistance.

Star Wars: Every Jedi and Every Sith Ever 96 IMAGES

Loading

Though Colin Trevorrow, who was originally tapped to helm Episode IX , had credited J.J. Abrams with having the idea to bring the Emperor back for the conclusion, a new AwardsDaily interview with Rise of Skywalker co-writer Chris Terrio seems to shift the narrative a bit.In it, Terrio possibly credits Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy with wanting to bring back Palpatine. "Kathy Kennedy and [SVP] Michelle Rejwan had a clear plan for where they wanted things to end," Terrio said. "They had clear plans about certain narrative marks they wanted us to hit. They also gave us a lot of freedom within that. We knew that Rey and Ren were utterly key to this trilogy, but we also felt that there was no way that we were going to not find a path to redemption for Kylo Ren, the son of Han and Leia.""That’s when we really started aggressively pursuing this idea that there is old evil that didn’t die," he continued. "The source of the evil in the galaxy is this dark spirit waiting for its revenge and biding its time. The entity known as Palpatine in this version – his body died in Return of the Jedi – is patient and has been waiting. He dug his fox hole and has been waiting for his chance to re-establish his total domination."When asked if Palpatine had always been the plan, prior to Episode IX, Terrio said "Well, I can’t speak to Kathy’s overall intent. That was certainly discussed and was discussed before I ever came on. Kathy had this overall vision that we had to be telling the same story for nine episodes. Although from the sleight of hand of Episode VII and Episode VIII, you wouldn’t necessarily know immediately that we were telling the same story. She thought it would be a very strong end for the ninth movie. This fits well with J.J. because he loves magic tricks.""When you rewatch the earlier films," he added, "things start to make additional sense. Ren and his devotion to the idea of his grandfather. The voice that he’s always heard in his head. The certain similarities between Snoke and Palpatine. The intention was that, by the time you get to Episode IX, you realize there were real reasons this is all happening. It all shows how this story is being fought cyclically through the series."For more Rise of Skywalker news, check out how the film's Visual Dictionary answers a ton of key plot questions how Emperor Palpatine is still alive, and every Jedi that spoke to Rey in her final battle with the Emperor.

Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler