Hayden Christensen has been talking a lot about Star Wars lately, after he made his return to the franchise on Disney+. Christensen was at D23 and was talking about the franchise again, and he shocked people when he mentioned the possible return of one of the least-likely people that anyone expected to see return to the galaxy far, far away. Christensen has been involved in the franchise again, reprising his roles as Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader, most recently in Star Wars: Ahsoka. Now, Christensen has an idea on how Star Wars can bring back Natalie Portman, who played Padmé Amidala, Anakin’s lover and Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia’s mother.
In an interview with USA Today, Christensen said, “I’d love to get to work with her again and play these characters together. I think there’s still an opportunity to do that. I love the whole Clone Wars timeline in Star Wars, and it’s been a lot of fun to get to explore that a little bit in this series. So, I would love to get to do that with her at some point.”
Hayden Christensen wants to reunite with Natalie Portman as Padmé in an upcoming project.
"I'd love to get to work with her again and play these characters together. I think there's still an opportunity to do that. I love the whole Clone Wars timeline in Star Wars and it's been… pic.twitter.com/dezVH1CmVZ
Star Wars has a bad habit of leaning too heavily on nostalgia in its Disney+ shows. Ahsoka goes a long way in reminding people of what they loved so much about Clone Wars, but that is its selling point. Obi-Wan Kenobi was a show that was set in the past, so it makes sense that it would need the nostalgia to carry it forward. However, on a show like The Mandalorian, when the series brought in Boba Fett and then later, Luke Skywalker, it seemed like the franchise was not secure in focusing on its actual future.
The best thing about the next movie being a standalone, without any past characters, is that it moves forward to new stories and fresh characters, and it doesn’t care about fan service, preferring to tell a quality story. If a show like Ahsoka brings in Padmé for no reason other than for fans to see her and Anakin together, it wouldn’t make any sense. Nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake is what is keeping franchises like Star Wars and Star Trek from moving forward.
It also wouldn’t make any sense on Ahsoka because this series takes place after Return of the Jedi, and Anakin appears in the World Between Worlds. The only way this could work is for Star Wars to create another prequel series like Obi-Wan, but one that has Anakin and Padmé still alive before his turn to the Dark Side. There is also a chance they could create an Anakin series that has Padmé appearing in flashback scenes. However they go about it, the entire idea of Portman returning doesn’t make any sense when it comes to the franchise in 2026.
Of course, this is Star Wars, so if enough people want to see Padmé and Anakin back together on the screen, Disney could make it happen. That said, if the studio is not willing to make a fan-wanted Ben Solo movie, there is not much of a chance for Padmé to return.
