Star Wars: Is Rise Of Skywalker's General Pryde In The Original Movies?
Before joining the First Order, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker's Allegiant General Enric Pryde (Richard E. Grant) fought for the Empire - but does that mean he was in the original Star Wars trilogy? Serving as one of the film's main antagonists (and a foil for General Hux), Pryde sat on the First Order's Supreme Council and took a commanding role in their military as Allegiant General. He maintained these responsibilities under the banner of the Final Order after pledging loyalty to Darth Sidious, who he mentions having served in "the old wars."
Enric Pryde was born in the final years of the Galactic Republic and was living among the Core Worlds when Order 66 was issued, making him only a child for the prequel trilogy (in which he naturally does not appear). As he came of age, Pryde enthusiastically embraced the rule of the Galactic Empire, enlisting in the Imperial Navy after a distinguished academic career. This early indoctrination goes a long way in explaining the Allegiant General's passionate and immediate loyalty to the reborn Emperor in The Rise of Skywalker.
It is around this time that the events depicted in the original trilogy take place, and while Pryde is known to have encountered Darth Vader around this time, he is not seen in any of the three films. This is understandable, as he would not yet have the seniority of someone like Grand Moff Tarkin, and interactions between Imperial officials are not given much focus in the trilogy anyway, especially after A New Hope. It is known, however, that he was a participant in the Battle of Jakku, which (although not shown in the films) was the capstone conflict of the original trilogy's Galactic Civil War and the source of the massive wreckage from which Rey is scavenging at the beginning of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Pryde is also absent from the first two movies in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, despite having returned from exile in the Unknown Regions following the fall of the Galactic Empire and actively serving the First Order at this time. Snoke apparently kept Pryde and some other high-ranking officials hidden as a precaution in case of fallout from the Starkiller Base gambit, and they are only properly reinstated by Kylo Ren after he claims the mantle of Supreme Leader at the end of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Pryde, then, takes up his first visible leadership position in the saga during The Rise of Skywalker, commanding Palpatine's Sith fleet, killing General Hux, and destroying the planet Kijimi before perishing during the Battle of Exegol, having truly packed a lifetime of sinister villainy into his only cinematic appearance.
Ultimately, General Pryde's villain role in The Rise of Skywalker takes a narrative backseat to the return of Palpatine/Darth Sidious, and rightly so. He does, however, serve to personify the cold militarism of the First and Final Orders (much as Tarkin did for the Empire in the original film), and as such fulfills an essential function in communicating to the audience why the Resistance fights with such fervor. Additionally, in making an on-screen reference to his connections to the original trilogy, as opposed to leaving it up to spinoff material, the film concretely grounds his significance in the wider universe of Star Wars and plays naturally into the sequel trilogy's preoccupation with fans' relationship to the past and how it shapes the present.