J.J. Abrams Reveals His Favorite 'Star Wars' Prequel Scene, And Sadly, It Does Not Involve Watto
While some people would be perfectly fine forgetting the Star Wars prequels even exist, J.J. Abrams isn't one of them. He's said several times that the upcoming The Rise of Skywalker is meant to be not just a conclusion to this new trilogy, but to the franchise as a whole – and that includes the three prequel movies.
And now Abrams is opening about his favorite Star Wars prequel scene. What do you think it is? Does it involve Anakin shouting, "Yippie!" or complaining about sand? Or maybe one of the scenes talking about trade disputes? Or perhaps it's a scene featuring everyone's favorite Star Wars character, Watto? No, it's none of those things. Instead, it's a scene between Anakin and Palpatine – a character soon to return in The Rise of Skywalker.
We all have thoughts about the Star Wars prequels, I'm sure (for instance: they're bad). But they did play a part in the new Star Wars trilogy, and J.J. Abrams even has a favorite prequel scene picked out. Speaking with EW, Abrams revealed his favorite prequel scene is from Revenge of the Sith, and involves Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) luring Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) to the dark side with the story of Darth Plagueis. Here's the scene.
Palpatine Talks About Darth Plagueis
"It's a Sith legend," Palpatine says in the scene. "Darth Plagueis was a Dark Lord of the Sith who lived many years ago. He was so powerful and so wise that he could use the Force to influence the midichlorians to create life... He had such a knowledge of the dark side that he could even keep the ones he cared about from dying."
"He could do that?" Anakin asks. "He could actually save people from death?"
"The dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural," replies Palpatine, adding that Plagueis "became so powerful... the only thing he was afraid of was losing his power, which eventually, of course, he did. Unfortunately, he taught his apprentice everything he knew, and then one night, his apprentice killed him in his sleep. It's ironic that he could save others from death, but not himself."
"There's just something about that scene," Abrams says. "There's just two people sitting there. It's visually interesting. But I just think Ian's performance in it is spectacular."
While I'm no fan of the prequels (have I mentioned they're bad?), I agree that this is a well-done scene, primarily because of McDiarmid's performance. It's also worth noting that Abrams might be dropping a clue regarding what's to come in The Rise of Skywalker. After all, Palpatine himself clearly died in Return of the Jedi, and yet he's somehow back in Skywalker. And here's Abrams casually chatting about a scene in which Palpatine talks about cheating death. Or maybe I'm reading too much into this.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker opens December 20.