This Mysterious 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' Hologram Is Not Who You Think It Is

Rumors are stubborn things. The internet has made rumor a type of religion; something spread far and wide with staunch believers who refuse to accept anything but their own patented version of the truth. "It has to be true," they might argue. "I saw it on the internet." If there's one film franchise the generates rumors left and right, it's Star Wars.

With the production on the new films notoriously kept secret, the internet has no other recourse than to speculate wildly. They'll take any source they can find and try to make it fit into a theory, even if that source just happens to be from something as innocuous a toy. Such wild speculation and rumor are now swirling around a hologram spotted within a LEGO First Order Star Destroyer set – a hologram purported to be of Emperor Palpatine. Does this hint at a return of a long-dead Star Wars character, or are we all getting excited over something with a much more germane answer? How true is this The Last Jedi Palpatine rumor? The only way for you to know for sure is to keep reading.

Rumors abound that somewhere within The Last Jedi is a scene where gold bathrobe enthusiast Supreme Leader Snoke converses with none other than Ian McDiarmid's Emperor Palpatine. Of course, Palpatine is dead, but LEGO figure for sale on Walmart.com might shed some light on this mystery. As pointed out by Movieweb, a figure purports to be of Snoke with a mini Palpatine hologram. The figure is indeed up on Walmart's site, and you can see it here. Pretty cut and dry, right? Case closed?

Not so fast. Walmart, like Amazon, has marketplace retailers who can upload their own products to the site. The site even provides this disclaimer:  "While we aim to provide accurate product information, it is provided by manufacturers, suppliers, and others, and has not been verified by us." The source of this "LEGO Star Wars: Supreme Leader Snoke with Palpatine Hologram" figure is the online retailer The Brick People, who likely removed the Snoke figure and hologram from the larger Star Destroyer set and then gave it their own unique name.

The hologram is indeed part of that set, as you can see in packaging photos. But the box description just lists it as so: "Open-out top panels reveal a detailed interior, including a working elevator to Snoke's chamber with a mini hologram figure, bridge with seating for the crew, conference area and a passageway leading to the control room with instrument panel detailing."

The lack of a name for whomever that hologram may be might raise an eye-brow or two – why keep it a secret, unless it's a spoiler? But there's nothing here to indicate that the robed hologram figure is Palpatine. Hell, it could be literally anyone in the Star Wars universe – robes aren't exactly hard to come by in the Star Wars universe. The answer could be incredibly simple.

But simple doesn't cut it. People want big, wild rumors to satiate their need for information. They want to speculate, and they want their speculation to pay off. When it comes to films, there's nothing really wrong with such speculation. It's harmless. But it's also prevalent, and it tends to spread, like a particularly virulent virus. Because The Brick People decided to upload their figure with "Palpatine Hologram" in the title, some will see this as absolute confirmation of the fact.

Here's the thing: it's not true. A source close to the production confirmed to us that while there are holograms in The Last Jedi, there is not a scene where Snoke talks to a Palpatine hologram. Palpatine is not in the current cut of the film. So there you have it – we may not know who the hologram is, but we certainly know who the hologram isn't. We have heard that Snoke talks to General Hux over hologram at one point. I've written-up this story as a cautionary tale to you rumor seekers out there: don't believe everything you read on the internet, even if it comes from what you think might be a reputable source. Someone is always out there gaming the system.

Besides, I think I've cracked this case and have a strong suspicion as to who this hologram figure really is. He even has a connection to Max von Sydow's character from The Force Awakens: