According to the rumors, 25 years after her first appearance in The Phantom Menace, Natalie Portman may return to Star Wars as Padme Amidala.
The Kristian Harloff Show recently claimed that the Black Swan actress is in talks with Lucasfilm about reprising the role in Ahsoka Season 2 and that showrunner Dave Filoni is keen to make it happen. According to Harloff, Ewan McGregor will also return to Star Wars in the Rosario Dawson-led Disney+ series.
Given that Ahsoka is set in the New Republic era, between the events of Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, it is long after Padme’s heartbreaking death during childbirth. Portman’s prequel co-star Hayden Christensen’s Force Ghost Anakin was an integral part of the first season, helping Ahsoka finish her training when she was stuck in the World Between Worlds. Padme was never shown to be Force-sensitive. So, the possibility of her appearing as a Force Ghost is unlikely.
That leaves us with the possibility of a flashback scene.
Ahsoka Season 1 treated the fans with some Clone Wars era flashbacks, in which Ariana Greenblatt played the live-action young Ahsoka caught in the middle of a raging battle. In The Clone Wars TV show, Ahsoka was quite good friends to Padme and often accompanied her on diplomatic missions. They even shared a quip or two about Anakin. Tales of the Jedi revealed that she attended Padme’s funeral, albeit in secret.
Given how close the two were, Padme appearing in one of Ahsoka’s visions or memories in Season 2 would not be too far-fetched. Whether that would have some significant tie to the overarching story involving Admiral Thrawn or it would simply help mold Ahsoka’s character further remains to be seen.
Natalie Portman could return to Star Wars as someone… or something else
As lucrative and heartwarming as that idea is, one fan online has come up with an even more harrowing theory that many others seem to agree with. In October 2023, Instagram user @blurayangel speculated that Natalie Portman could return as a dark, villainous version of Padme in the form of Abeloth, a major Star Wars Legends villain connected to the Mortis Gods.
Ahsoka first encountered the Mortis Gods in Star Wars: The Clone Wars when she, Anakin, and Obi-Wan Kenobi were summoned to the planet by the Father’s intervention. He wanted to see the Chosen One with his own eyes. But it triggered a series of events that ended up killing all three of these gods.
However, at the end of Ahsoka Season 1, Baylan Skill finds gigantic stone statues of the Mortis Gods on Peridea, where Admiral Thrawn and Ezra Bridger were stuck all this time. Between the cliffhanger ending and the Daughter saving Ahsoka’s life with her last breath in The Clone Wars, everything points at the Mortis Gods, and their associated storylines will play an important role in season 2.
Who is Abeloth?
Abeloth is hands down one of the most evil entities in all of Star Wars. She began her life as a human mortal serving the powerful Ones on a jungle planet. She eventually became the Mother, responsible for the balance between the Son, who leaned towards the dark side, and the Daughter, who embodied light. Thus, she maintained balance in the Force.
However, in an attempt to attain immortality, she drank from the Font of Power and bathed in the Pool of Knowledge. The abundance of power corrupted her body, mind, and spirit and transformed her into an antagonistic creature of chaos. Although not canon anymore, she is one of the most malevolent entities in the Star Wars universe, perhaps even worse than Emperor Palpatine himself.
Natalie Portman as Abeloth: What does it mean for Star Wars?
The theory suggested that Abeloth, who can shapeshift and possess various host bodies, could take the form of Padme Amidala to “psychologically mess with Force Ghost Anakin and Luke Skywalker.”
Some fans disagreed with the idea, arguing that since Luke (and Leia) never saw their mother’s face, it should not be a bother to him. However, we know Jedi and Force-sensitive people get visions of all kinds, which gives Dave Filoni a lot of creative freedom to perfect the angle.
Why would it mess with Luke? He's never seen her....
— Dave Durst (@dvdurst08) October 9, 2023
Post-Return of the Jedi, Luke is undoubtedly the most revered individual in the galaxy or feared if you’re an Imperial remnant. We see him in The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, where he takes charge of Grogu’s Jedi training and shares a heartfelt moment with Ahsoka, who compares him to his father. One cannot rule out the possibility of a digitally created young Mark Hamill. It would be a terrible ordeal for Luke to see his mother in this malignant form only years after finding out his father was a Sith.
Others were more accepting of the theory.
“It's interesting that the Daughter, the Father, and the Son were also briefly mentioned in Rebels, another Easter egg,” one fan pointed out in the comments of Blurayangel's post. Another said, “I really hate that they never gave us more of this.”
One doubted if Disney would green-light the idea at all.
“Love that idea but I doubt Disney has the balls to put this dark and twisted of a being in this new universe where they can’t even kill a character anymore.”
Portman appearing as Abeloth, who looks like Padme, would probably mess the most with Ahsoka herself. As mentioned before, the two used to be close. Stuck on Peridea with no way home, for now, a dark and evil Padme could haunt her for days on end and keep her from returning. That would allow Thrawn more time to strategize whatever it is he’s planning. It would also be a perfect negative foil to the positive outcome of her astral conversation with Anakin.
On Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen in December 2023, Portman shared that no one had contacted her about a return, but she was open to it. She reiterated this in July 2024 on The View, adding that she would love to work in Star Wars with her Lady in the Lake co-star Moses Ingram who plays Reva Sevander in Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Independent of Portman's casting, there is a high chance Abeloth could feature in Ahsoka Season 2. Baylan Skoll and the Nightsisters felt a powerful pull of Force on Peridea. In Legends, Leia and Han Solo’s son Jacen unintentionally released Abeloth from her prison, and she was later vanquished by Luke.
In Ahsoka, Skoll could probably be her liberator, given his doubts and dichotomy around the roles of Jedi in his mind. It would not be hard for Abeloth to influence Skoll, or better still, Shin Hati - a young, more rebellious Sith with less restraint regarding evil and violence.