Could Ian McDiarmid play Emperor Palpatine again? During a Q&A today at Star Wars Celebration VI -- which marked McDiarmid's first time at the official Star Wars convention -- the actor left the door open for more appearances as a character he referred to at one point as “the most evil thing that ever was.”

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When an actor moves on to other projects, it’s not uncommon for them to not stay in the loop on what is going on with their previous project and not be as up to speed as fans. That being the case, it was interesting when McDiarmid himself brought up the much talked-about Star Wars live-action TV series today, which would be set in-between Episode III and IV, as he also noted the delays there have been on that potential series and the hope that those issues can be worked through. That alone made it hard to wonder if McDiarmid had had any direct conversations about the series with George Lucas.Then, chatting about the popular opera scene in Revenge of the Sith, McDiarmid noted it was the one time we got some hints into Palpatine’s backstory in the films, and then remarked, “It would be nice if one day they would be followed up… who knows?”Later, when the chance came for audience Q&A, someone asked him point blank: If given the chance, would he return as Palpatine in the live-action series?The veteran stage actor broke into a big grin, and replied, “Well… what do you think?”He then added, “Who knows if Palpatine would be in it? It could be like A New Hope. There could be a terrific representative -- and by god, Peter Cushing was a terrific actor -- doing the Emperor’s bidding.”That being said, McDiarmid noted, “If he happened to pop up in the script I would hate if it was to go live and someone else were to be in it.”During his hour long conversation, McDiarmid was an incredibly fun and engaging presence, telling stories about coming up with the Emperor's distinctive voice in Return of the Jedi, after deciding the character looked like “a black, slimy toad” and pondering what that would sound like.He also proved to be excellent at performing impressions of those he’s encountered working on Star Wars, including everyone from Lucas’ pal, Steven Spielberg, to Christopher Lee. In the case of Spielberg, McDiarmid recalled showing up to record ADR for Return of the Jedi, still not sure if Lucas was happy with the voice he used on set and would want it changed. When Spielberg saw McDiarmid and exclaimed, “Oh my god, you’re so evil!”, he decided the voice had worked and he was okay. And with Lee, McDiarmid humorously brought up his mock-anger during the making of Attack of the Clones at finding out he wouldn’t be the only character using Force Lightening anymore and Lee boasting to him about it.McDiarmid spoke about visiting a John Williams scoring session on one of the films and saying to Lucas, “It’s just like a silent movie.” Replied Lucas, “It is a silent movie,” referring to his intention that it primarily be a series telling a story through the visuals.The fact that The Emperor is an oft-quoted character was brought up and McDiarmid remarked, “Lots of people make jokes about the words in Star Wars, but the ones I got were pretty good." He revealed he was inspired to put such a hateful, spitting delivery on the word friends as the Emperor after it occurred to him, “He doesn’t have any friends,” and would find the mere idea something worth mocking.Asked which actor he enjoyed working with the most, McDiarmid brought up Hayden Christensen, who he had some of his most important scenes with, adding, “His performance is greatly underrated. I really liked him.”As for which incarnation of Palpatine stuck out the most to him, McDiarmid got applause and laughter from the audience when he said, “I felt most evil when I was playing the Senator, because he was so recognizable as a contemporary politician.”