Ok, so get out your calculators and start tapping the numbers as we delve into why Natalie Portman wasn’t in the orignial trilogy. At the premiere for The Phantom Menace, 18 year old Portman was asked by the then Prince Charles if she was in the original trilogy, and speaking this week on Watch What Happens Live she reminisced about the moment, and how she made clear to the Prince that no, she wasn’t as she was only 18. Born in 1981, Natalie was too young to appear in A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, but if she were Aidan Barton – who played baby Luke and Leia in Revenge of the Sith – then theoretically she could have had a role in Return of the Jedi. But of course she didn’t.
Natalie Portman appeared on “Watch What Happens Live” to promote her buzzy Netflix drama “May December” and once again told “Star Wars” fans that she is more than open to reprising her role of Padmé Amidala on screen. Portman was just a teenager when she landed a leading role in George Lucas’ “Star Wars” prequel trilogy. Her first entry, “The Phantom Menace,” opened in 1999 when Portman was 18 years old.
Asked by host Andy Cohen what it was like meeting the British royal family at “The Phantom Menace” premiere (see photo below), Portman recalled: “I remember Prince Charles, he was then Prince Charles, asked me if I was in the originals. I was like, ‘No, I’m 18!’ But he was very friendly.”
Portman said “no one has asked” her about returning to the “Star Wars” franchise, but “I’m open to it.” She said working on the prequel trilogy was “amazing,” adding, “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.”
Padmé died in labor after giving birth to Luke and Leia in “Revenge of the Sith,” so having Portman re-enter the franchise might be difficult. And yet, the “Star Wars” franchise has a history of bringing back long-presumed dead characters (see “Phantom Menace” villain Darth Maul popping back up in “Solo”).
