Natalie Portman Explains Why She Loves Her Star Wars Role

Padme Amidala was an integral part of the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, not just as Anakin’s love interest and catalyst for his fall to the dark side, but a compelling character who changed the landscape of the war through her time as a senator of the Galactic Republic.

George Lucas introduced Padme in The Phantom Menace as the Queen of Naboo, but the character would go on to make an appearance in almost every Star Wars project from the days of the Clone Wars and generally the prequels era. While the trilogy mainly tells her story through Anakin Skywalker and his transformation to Darth Vader, TV shows like The Clone Wars have done a lot to develop the Nabooain Senator as an independent and significant character.

Unfortunately, Natalie Portman’s time in Star Wars was short lived and she never reprised her role after Revenge of the Sith. Despite that, however, it looks as though the actress still remembers Padme in a good light.

“It’s so fun to be part of something that kids relate to so much. I haven’t shown my kids the movies yet — I think it’s so weird for them to think of me as anything other than their mom. They’ve seen the recent Star Wars movies that I am not in — my son has, my daughter, is too young. It feels really lucky to be part of something that’s every child’s imaginary world. It’s very exciting to be able to impress my kids a little bit,” she explained in a recent interview with Yahoo!

While it’s unknown if the Thor: Love and Thunder star will ever return to the role in future projects, we may yet see Padme through other mediums. In fact, it was only recently that the character popped up again in Marvel’s Darth Vader comic series, but we soon learned it was Sabe, her loyal handmaiden and body double from Episode I.

At any rate, it’s interesting that how Portman feels about her involvement with Star Wars actually mirrors Lucas’ intention for the Prequel Trilogy; to make the movies in a way that would resonate more with children, hence the inclusion of an adolescent Anakin and the infamous Jar Jar Binks, not to mention the Podracing tournament on Tatooine.