Star Wars Fans Have A Clear Opinion On Natalie Portman's Possible Return
Natalie Portman is an acclaimed actress in Hollywood, with a career that includes unbelievable Oscar-deserving — and in the case of "Black Swan," winning — performances, dramatic period pieces, and massive blockbusters. She's already returned to the MCU, packing on an incredible amount of muscle to play Jane Foster aka Mighty Thor, in "Thor: Love and Thunder." So, it stands to reason — given her popularity as Jane, would fans also want her to return to another popular franchise she once headlined?
That franchise, of course, is "Star Wars." The galaxy far, far away tends to capitalize on nostalgia to please its fanbase. Many of their recent projects have included the return of fan-favorite characters: Luke, Leia, Han, and Lando all returned for the sequel trilogy, while "The Mandalorian" brought back Boba Fett, Luke (again), and Ahsoka Tano. "Obi-Wan Kenobi" and "Andor" both focus on the return of fan-favorite characters and include appearances from even more returning characters. Clearly, the door is open for any character to return, and so Looper surveyed over 600 of our readers to see if they wanted to see Natalie Portman return to Star Wars. The answer is abundantly clear.
Over 60% of fans want Portman to return to a galaxy far, far away
According to Looper's poll, nearly 64% of fans want Natalie Portman to return to Star Wars. That's no small number.
Most fans last saw Padme Amidala in "Revenge of the Sith," where she died after giving birth to Luke and Leia, so her return would be a bit tricky, but not impossible, to pull off. Portman had a similar opinion: When asked by BuzzFeed if she would ever reprise her role as Padme, the actress said, "Sure, but my character did die, so it would take some narrative creativity for sure." In the interview, Portman commented on Padme's clothes being much more comfortable than Queen Amidala's, so if she were to return, don't expect any extravagant headwear.
There is room to flesh out Padme further than the prequels did. The character's recurring role in the revived "The Clone Wars" TV series, voiced by Catherine Taber, slightly expanded on her story between Episodes II and III. Lucasfilm has yet to dive back into anything before "Revenge of the Sith" with its live-action projects, so a detour into the Republic era to expand Padme's story would be interesting. Since she wasn't the star of the prequel trilogy, there are many instances when she isn't featured on-screen, leaving lots of room for narrative expansion.
"Thor: Love and Thunder" director Taika Waititi — who is working on a Star Wars film next — also thinks that Portman should return to a galaxy far, far away. The director hilariously revealed that he asked the Thor actress if she would be interested in doing a Star Wars movie, to which Portman had to remind him that she had already been in three of them (via Rolling Stones).