<P> In Star Wars Rebels, Palpatine is now the Emperor of the Galactic Empire . He briefly appears offscreen at the end of the season 2 premiere, "The Siege of Lothal", voiced by Sam Witwer . Darth Vader informs Palpatine that the Rebel Alliance cell on Lothal has been broken . However, Vader tells him that Ahsoka Tano, the apprentice of Anakin Skywalker, is alive and is now helping the Rebels . Palpatine sees this as an opportunity to seek out other remaining Jedi (such as Obi - Wan Kenobi). Palpatine then tells Vader to dispatch an Inquisitor to hunt down Ahsoka . </P> <P> The first appearance of Palpatine in Star Wars literature was in Alan Dean Foster's (writing as George Lucas) novelization of the script of A New Hope, published as Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker (1976). </P> <P> Star Wars: Lords of the Sith was subsequently announced as one of the first four canon novels to be released in 2014 and 2015 . In Lords of the Sith, Vader and Palpatine find themselves hunted by revolutionaries on the Twi'lek planet Ryloth . </P> <P> In April 2014, most of the licensed Star Wars novels and comics produced since the originating 1977 film Star Wars were rebranded as Star Wars Legends and declared non-canon to the franchise by Lucasfilm . Star Wars Legends literature elaborates on Palpatine's role in Star Wars fiction outside of the films . </P>

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