Taika Waititi Asked Natalie Portman to be in Star Wars, Forgetting She was Padme

Natalie Portman’s Star Wars days are far behind her, being one of the principal stars in the prequel trilogy. Though she remains an icon as Padme Amidala, someone forgot that she was in the franchise—and Portman if she wanted to be in his Star Wars movie.

Talking to Rolling Stone, Taika Waititi shares a story about how he asked Portman to be in his upcoming Star Wars project, forgetting she was in the Prequels. He explained:

Natalie said to me, what do you do next? And I said “I’m trying to work on a Star Wars thing. Have you ever wanted to be in a Star Wars movie?” She said, “I’ve been in Star Wars movies.” I forgot about those ones. [Laughs]

With Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor coming back for Obi-Wan Kenobi, there’s definitely a lot of room for Portman to come back in some kind of flashback. I just hope they don’t try to completely recreate her with CG like they’re doing with Mark Hamill’s young Luke Skywalker. I mean, the tech is amazing, but it won’t be able to pull off a real emotional performance like with Alden Ehrenreich’s Han Solo.

As for Portman, she does a great job coming back in the MCU as Jane Foster. Though her character is still kind of corny, she does have some better moments in this film that really sell her chemistry with Hemsworth.

Thor: Love and Thunder hits theaters on July 8.