We weren’t entirely surprised to hear Star Wars Rebels declaring Season 4 as its last, but our final trip aboard the Ghost may have something more shocking in mind. According to recent rumors, Emperor Palpatine may put in an appearance with a new, albeit familiar voice.

Even as Star Wars Rebels announced at Celebration that franchise favorite Warwick Davis would lend his voice to the fourth and final season, an intriguing new report from StarWarsNewsNet suggests that Davis and Star Wars alum Ian McDiarmid were observed at London recording studios around the same interval. The session in question took place several months ago, though Season 4 recording spans a timeframe from Katee Sackhoff announcing her return in September, to Davis’ own post this May:

Of course, Palpatine appeared on Rebels once before, voiced by none other than Darth Maul himself, Sam Witwer. Prior Star Wars video games have also seen Witwer voicing the Emperor (Clone Wars had the late Ian Abercrombie, then Tim Curry as a pre-disfigurement Chancellor), but if ever McDiarmid were to join the Rebels ranks of movie alum James Earl Jones, Billy Dee Williams, Frank Oz and Anthony Daniels, the final season would be it.

In any case, Star Wars Rebels Season 4 will at least feature the Star Wars: Rogue One returns of Forest Whitaker’s Saw Gerrera and Genevieve O’Reilly’s Mon Mothma, so might the OG Emperor come out to play as well? Watch the trailer below, and stay tuned.

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