Imagine a film set in post-Nazi Germany that asks the question, “How do the people affected by Hitler heal and how can we reconcile with one another after having been so polarized?”
Now imagine a film in which a revived cyber-zombie Hitler threatens world domination.
I’m hoping this comparison doesn’t end up applying to IX, but that’s the sort of thing that concerns me.
It seems like Palpatine’s return is on your mind as much as it is on mine. This is also my concern.
I was hoping IX would focus completely on Kylo Ren, the Knights of Ren, and the First Order as the villains of the film, and it would focus on the idea of reunification, and if it is possible for two divided sides to come back together through peace rather the total destruction of the enemy. This would have set it apart from ROTJ by showing why the Sequel Trilogy was a necessary end to this saga about war.
Kylo Ren’s redemption, Stormtrooper liberation, there were a few plot threads that could’ve led down this path.
We might just have to look at Sidious as more as a symbol for evil, or the shadow-self, rather than a metaphor for specific evil people. Mecha-hitler will never be a thing, presumably, but there have been and will be people who will embody the evil that Hitler was. You could just see it as an extension of the idea of fascism returning to the world.