15. Aubrey Plaza as Padmé Amidala
Natalie Portman was attending Harvard University to get her bachelor’s degree in psychology from 1999 to 2003, which she did while simultaneously taking on the role of Padmé Amidala in the prequel trilogy. Portman had only a few movie roles prior to The Phantom Menace, with Leon: The Professional, Heat, and Mars Attacks! being among them.
In the years after her Star Wars debut, Portman went on to land major roles in Cold Mountain, V for Vendetta, Closer (which she won a Golden Globe for), and Black Swan (which she won an Academy Award, Golden Globe, British Academy Film, and Screen Actors Guild Award for).
While it would be a change of pace for sure in some ways, Aubrey Plaza could be an amazingly refreshing choice to portray Padmé Amidala in a recast of Star Wars. It would also make her yet another Parks and Recreation alum alongside Nick Offerman and Billy Eichner in this recasting of the prequel and original Star Wars trilogies.
Plaza has also proven herself in both comedy and drama roles with Mystery Team, Funny People, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Monsters University, Child’s Play, and the FX series Legion. If anyone could take on the task of Amidala today, the pick would have to be Aubrey Plaza.