Star Wars fans convinced Darth Plagueis was hiding in the Sequel Trilogy this entire time

Star Wars fans have a theory that Darth Plagueis was in the Sequel Trilogy the whole time.

Originally conceived for Revenge of the Sith, the mythology surrounding Darth Plagueis has been expanded upon in Star Wars novels and other expanded material.

Since then, Plagueis hasn’t really shown up on-screen, aside from a brief appearance towards the end of The Acolyte.

While there’s hope this storyline could be wrapped up in another Star Wars work, fans reckon Plagueis actually orchestrated many of the events of the entire Skywalker Saga, leading all the way up to the Sequel Trilogy.

In a thread on the Fan Theories Reddit page, one user posted their theory.

“Darth Plagueis faked his death and possessed Palpatine afterwards,” the post title reads.

“After Palpatine backstabbed his mentor and murdered him, Plagueis' spirit saw the perfect opportunity to take over the other Sith's body, which helped him go by a different identity.

“Plagueis/Palpatine wanted Anakin to join the Dark Side, because he was looking for a younger and healthier body to use as his vessel.”

The poster then develops the theory to suggest Plagueis couldn’t take Vader’s body as a vessel after being badly injured on Mustafar, and that’s why Palps later took a larger interest in his son, Luke.

Another poster elaborated on this, writing: “There was a book released that had myths and legends about the Dark Side of the Force.

“One myth was about a Sith Lord who hid on Exegol; he was found by a younger Sith seeking power. The older with promised him power beyond his imagination, all the younger one had to do was strike him down. The younger Sith did so and was possessed by the evil spirit of the older Sith.”

“Plagueis could have pulled the exact same trick, and the Sidious we see in Rise of Skywalker could be the same evil being from thousands of years ago attempting to preserve himself once again.”

The short story the comment refers to is “A Life Immortal”, which is featured in the book Dark Legends by George Mann.

If the theory is true, it would explain the somehow in “Somehow, Palpatine returned” in The Rise of Skywalker.

Considering the shaky reception to the Star Wars sequels, and The Rise of Skywalker specifically, I imagine Disney and Lucasfilm will probably avoid giving a concrete answer to this theory.

And since The Acolyte was cancelled, there probably won’t be a resolution to the Darth Plagueis storyline on-screen either.