Star Wars 9 Rise of Skywalker trailer theory: THAT Palpatine shot was actually Dark Rey

The final trailer for Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker was full of spectacle. And while we didn’t see Emperor Palpatine from the front, there was a shot of him on what looks like a floating throne. Or was it? A popular new fan theory argues it’s not him at all, but rather Dark Rey from the previous trailer.

Reddit user choppazula argues: “The cloak is the same.

“If you look at the hood [and] at the shoulders, the folds are identical.

“The top of the hood drapes in the same fashion as well.

“Dark Rey is on that moving [throne].”

But how could there be regular Rey and Dark Rey?

If this were the case we could be dealing with a clone.

READ MORE: KYLO REN AND REY DATING THEORY

According to another fan theory, Rey has no parents because she’s a clone made from Luke’s missing hand.

Darth Vader cut it off in The Empire Strikes Back and it was missed with the blue Skywalker lightsaber.

But now the latter has returned and calls to Rey, perhaps because she has the same DNA as Luke as his clone?

Adding to this theory, what if Palpatine was behind this and wants a new body – from Anakin’s bloodline – to live on in?

If this is the case, maybe Dark Rey is another clone, one that has Palpatine’s soul inside?

And before this, was Palpatine living on in Darth Vader’s helmet?

After all, during his apparent death scene in Return of the Jedi, he does have contact with the headgear.

And in the final trailer, Rey and Kylo destroy the helmet.

Was this their attempt to stop Palpatine?

Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker is released in UK cinemas on December 19, 2019.