Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker's Opening Crawl Only Makes Sense Thanks To... Fortnite?
"Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" has no doubt shocked some viewers with the narrative bombshell it drops in its opening crawl: not only is Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) alive, but he has broadcast a message throughout the galaxy announcing his plans to revive the Empire. Fans would be forgiven for thinking that they forgot about or missed some major scene in "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" that sets up this reveal, but that isn't the case. In fact, the initial reveal of Palpatine's return didn't occur in any of the myriad films, TV shows, comic books, or novels from the franchise. Instead, it happened in a little video game fans may have heard of before: "Fortnite."
While "Star Wars" has long been one of the biggest franchise collaborators with "Fortnite" by way of various game modes and cosmetics, Epic Games' juggernaut of a battle royale broke new ground when the game hosted a special themed event before the release of "The Rise of Skywalker." During this event, players could exclusively hear Palpatine's broadcast announcing his return, which would prove to be a pretty significant piece of context for the then-upcoming movie. Though it may have been an effective promotional event for "Fortnite" fans, this strategy had the unfortunate effect of making the opening crawl's discussion of Palpatine's return rather confusing and anticlimactic for the masses who were previously unaware of the broadcast.
Palpatine's broadcast may not have necessarily been created for Fortnite
The fact that "Star Wars" gated away a major reveal for the sequel trilogy of films in "Fortnite" of all things is a pretty odd choice on its face. Indeed, many "Star Wars" fans aren't particularly happy with how the context of Palpatine's return mostly hinges on a limited-time video game event, with some like u/InfamousIndecision characterizing it as little more than a marketing stunt. However, the story of how Palpatine's broadcast became relegated to "Fortnite" may be a little more complicated than it initially seems.
According to a 2020 tweet from Rae Carson, the author of the official "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" novelization, Palpatine's intergalactic message was not created exclusively for the "Fortnite" event. Per her explanation, the plot point was conceived by an undisclosed individual involved with the "Star Wars" franchise. It was then subsequently used by multiple parties, including "Fortnite" and Carson herself. Indeed, the message actually does feature in the film's novelization.
Carson's explanation suggests that Palpatine's message being exclusive to "Fortnite" may not have always been the plan. It's already been well-established that a number of scenes involving context around Palpatine's return were cut from the theatrical release of "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker," as confirmed by editor Maryann Brandon in an interview with HuffPost. As such, it's entirely possible that the broadcast was originally planned to feature properly in the movie before winding up on the chopping block.
Without official confirmation, it's hard to say how exactly Palpatine's broadcast stayed as a "Fortnite"-exclusive snippet of context for so long. Whatever the case, it doesn't change the fact that the final movie in the Skywalker saga primarily relies on an expired game event for its opening crawl to make sense.