The Star Wars Prequel Trilogy may have done big numbers at the box office, which was hardly surprising when one of the world’s most beloved franchises returned to the screen after nearly two decades, but if the internet was as all-encompassing then as it was now, then there’s every chance that the backlash faced by the recent movies would look tame by comparison.
Even uttering the name Jar Jar Binks is enough to rile up the diehards, while George Lucas’ return to a galaxy far, far away ended up having a negative effect on the careers of more than one of the trilogy’s stars. Ahmed Best admitted that the negative reaction to Jar Jar affected him in a profound way, Jake Lloyd retired from acting at the ripe old age of twelve as a direct result of The Phantom Menace, and Hayden Christensen’s career has never recovered from the criticism directed towards his time as Anakin Skywalker.
That being said, Natalie Portman has managed to bounce back pretty well. The actress has previously said that she struggled to find work in the immediate aftermath of Star Wars, but has since rebuilt her career and gone on to become one of the most critically-acclaimed stars of her generation, even picking up an Academy Award for her troubles.
Portman recently agreed to return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Thor: Love and Thunder as well after seemingly drawing a line under her time as part of the comic book series, and we’ve now heard from our sources – the same ones who said Ahsoka Tano will be in The Mandalorian season 2 and [SPOILERS] would be revealed as a traitor in The Rise of Skywalker – that the 38 year-old may also be set to rejoin that other big-name Disney franchise that she’s never spoken of particularly fondly.
From what we understand, Portman has had talks with Lucasfilm about a cameo in the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi show, with Padme currently slated to appear via flashbacks. Not everything in Star Wars has to be connected to the Skywalker family in some way – although you wouldn’t realize it – but having her character drop in for a cameo certainly makes sense in the context of the presumed story, with his failure to protect any member of the Prequel Trilogy’s key family being the main driving force behind Obi-Wan’s decision to exile himself at the end of Revenge of the Sith.
That being said, the actress is only in talks with the studio and nothing is officially confirmed just yet, but as mentioned above, the current plan is to have her return via flashbacks and with any luck, Portman will agree to make one more trip to that galaxy far, far away.
