Star Wars Almost Turned Natalie Portman's Padme Into A Sith To Inspire Girls
As disliked as it might be among many fans, the "Star Wars" prequel trilogy has some good moments and does a lot right. There's incredible action, an intriguing overarching plot, and plenty of connective tissue to the original "Star Wars" trilogy. However, all of that doesn't make up for its many shortcomings. The dialogue is rough, George Lucas' directing isn't at its best, and numerous important characters lack proper development. Chief among them is Padmé Amidala (Natalie Portman), who goes from a strong, capable leader of Naboo who's skilled with a blaster to merely Anakin Skywalker's (Hayden Christensen) love interest. In the end, she dies during childbirth.
But had one early idea for Padmé gone through, her story would've been drastically different. In the book "The Art of Star Wars: Attack of the Clones" by R.A. Salvatore, artist Iain McCaig revealed that he pitched a mirror Sith version of Padmé to be introduced after the death of Darth Maul (Ray Park) — before George Lucas himself brought him back from the dead, of course. "I felt this was a great opportunity to introduce a strong woman character, to give girl fans an icon," he said, explaining that she would serve as evidence that women could find fulfillment in the dark side just as men do and stand toe-to-toe with the Jedi.
Though this evil Padmé never made it to the big screen, with Count Dooku (Sir Christopher Lee) taking her place as Maul's successor, McCaig at least worked on the design of the character. What he came up with is nothing short of impressive.
McCaig's design for Sith Padme was striking
As Iain McCaig notes in "The Art of Star Wars: Attack of the Clones," the idea behind his dark side version of Padmé Amidala was to inspire young women. The dark side was dominated by men at the time, with characters like "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" favorite Asajj Ventress (Nika Futterman) — who constantly flirts with Obi-Wan Kenobi (James Arnold Taylor), creating one of the galaxy's weirdest ships — and "Star Wars" Legends icon Darth Talon being exceptions rather than rules. Thus, he put a lot of work into the character's design, making her appear elegant yet terrifying.
When looking at McCaig's take on the Dark Queen, there's some resemblance to Padmé's intricate "Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace" queen of Naboo look. First and foremost is the face paint, which feels far more sinister than regal in this context. Surrounding her painted face is long, wavy hair that appears more unruly and twisted than her neatly fashioned royal hairstyle from the 1999 film. She also wears a small crown and has adopted piercing Sith eyes, driving home her devotion to the dark side.
With the storytelling possibilities seemingly endless in the "Star Wars" universe, perhaps someday fans will see this Sith Padmé Amidala flourish in some form or fashion.