One of the things I loved the most about Thor: Love and Thunder was the fact that it brought back Natalie Portman as Jane Foster, to give her a dignified and complete character arc. People are free to disagree with the specifics of it, but considering how many women in the MCU have gotten undignified conclusions, I was happy to see Jane’s be so epic. It also made me wish we could get that kind of revival for another major franchise love interest Portman played: Star Wars’ Padmé Amidala.
I have talked before about how, due to my age, I grew up really admiring the character of Padmé Amidala in the Star Wars prequel trilogy. I admired her soft regal power, as well as her skills with a blaster. She delivered all of the grandeur of a Queen, and as the story progressed, those aspects clashed against the need for her to be a romantic plot device. As the mother of Luke and Leia, she was doomed to death.
Death in childbirth is not an uncommon thing in the fictional or real world. In fact, one of the things I will always remember learning is that, in ancient Sparta, they had graves of honor made for women who died in childbirth. The problem was never that Padmé died. It was that her death was simply “she lost the will to live.”
That didn’t gel with the ambitious, strong, and courageous woman we had known for years, whose last act before giving birth was telling the man she loved that he was going down a path she would not follow because she knew it was wrong. Padmé was not weak-willed, nor so weak that she would give up just because she lost Anakin.
She was the co-founder of the Rebel Alliance, a senator, a queen, and a leader. It is a pity we didn’t get to see more of that with Portman’s version of the character. There is no denying that Portman was phoning in a big part of her performance in the franchise, but I think in the right hands, and with the right material, she would still shine in the role.
If we can bring back Hayden and ignore the lapse of decades, then we can with Natalie, who looks phenomenal. Obi-Wan Kenobi showed the franchise still has some decent stories to tell about the prequels, especially with the connection between the kids and their mother. I think a political drama with young Padmé would be excellent, and it could be framed with Natalie Portman as adult Padmé writing her memoirs, recollecting these tales for her children when they get old enough.
Padmé and Portman deserve a proper do-over.
(featured image: Del Ray/Lucasfilm)
