Natalie Portman says she is open to reprising Padmé Amidala in the Star Wars franchise.
While appearing on Watch What Happens Live to promote her new Netflix movie May December, Portman told host Andy Cohen that “no one has asked” her to return to Star Wars. However, she is ready to answer the call if Lucasfilm has an opportunity for her.
“I’m open to it,” Portman said as she recalled her experience in the Star Wars prequel trilogy being “amazing.” She added, “It was the first time I worked digitally. I don’t think anyone was shooting that way then. It was my first time working with a green screen. It was a whole new set of skills to pick up and a whole new world to enter.”
Portman made her first appearance as Anakin Skywalker’s love interest Padmé in 1999’s Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. The character met a tragic death at the hands of her love in 2005’s Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, but not before giving birth to Luke and Leia. Though Padmé’s death was permanent, Lucasfilm has proven recently that it can revisit ill-fated characters from the prequel era — as seen in 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story and 2022’s Obi-Wan Kenobi series on Disney+.
Taika Waititi’s awkward Star Wars offer to Natalie Portman
During press for 2022’s Thor: Love and Thunder, Portman made headlines when her director Taika Waititi asked the star about appearing in his upcoming Star Wars project, oblivious about her role in the prequels.
“He says he did [forget] because he like asked me if I wanted to be in a ‘Star Wars’ movie and I was like, ‘I was,’” Portman said to GQ. “I thought he was joking. He’s such a joker that I thought it was a joke. And then afterward he said in some interview that he was like cringing afterward.”
