Star Wars is no stranger to altering released material, especially when it comes to the Emperor.
Originally,
Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back featured Clive Terrill as the voice of the Emperor and he was physically played by Marjorie Eaton. In
Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi, however, the role was played by Ian McDiarmid. The actor would go on to reprise the role in the three
Star Wars prequels.
The Emperor appears two or so times throughout the run of the
Star Wars Rebels animated series. An appearance during Season 4 saw McDiarmid reprise the role once again. However, a Season 2 episode of the show featured Sam Witwer as the voice of the Emperor. Witwer himself plays Darth Maul in both
Star Wars Rebels and
Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
Recently, it was brought to attention that Witwer's brief tenure as the voice of the Emperor has been redubbed by McDiarmid. The actor is involved with the franchise again as he will be reprising the role of Emperor Palpatine in
Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker — so, Disney has taken the opportunity to make the most of him.
This discovery was shared by a Reddit user by the handle of
darthzepp. You can check out his post below:
Ian McDiarmid is the voice of the emperor in Siege of Lothal now from r/starwarsrebels