Star Wars Is Missing Out on the Potential For These Fan-Favorite Characters

The Star Wars universe has made a splash in recent years with their lineup of ensemble TV shows that tell heartwarming, subversive, and highly entertaining stories. Just in the past year, we’ve had The Acolyte, Skeleton Crew, and of course, the second season of critical hit Star Wars: Andor. However, Lucasfilm is sleeping on an ensemble that already has a devoted fanbase and is cornerstone of the IP: the Queen of Naboo’s Handmaidens. Perhaps it’s because the galaxy is so large and diverse, but the royal handmaidens, especially as they are depicted in E.K. Johnston’s novels Queen’s Shadow, Queen’s Peril, and Queen’s Hope, all provide rich potential to be adapted into an all-female espionage thriller for Star Wars.

Who are Queen Amidala’s Handmaidens and Why Do They Matter?

We first meet the handmaidens in Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace along with their Queen, Padmé Amidala, who is always surrounded by her entourage. It’s revealed in Phantom Menace that they don’t merely exist to wait on their queen, but serve as Amidala’s bodyguards. Sabé, one of Amidala’s most loyal handmaidens, also serves as the Queen’s decoy in crisis situations. This was a practice that hadn’t been employed for several generations with a Naboo monarch, however Sabé succeeds at deceiving the Trade Federation when they invade Naboo and she is taken prisoner instead of Padmé.

In Johnston’s novels Queen’s Peril and Queen’s Shadow, the author dives deeper into exactly why and how this came to be. Amidala wears extravagant outfits, paints her face, and speaks with an affected accent: it’s all to allow Sabé and the rest of Amidala’s handmaiden’s to impersonate her should the need arise. The makeup and accent were developed by Padmé and Sabé to suit both of their voices and features. Also, the large and deceptively cumbersome gowns provide ample hiding spaces for weapons.

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Attack of the Clones proves that being a handmaiden for Amidala is not for the faint of heart. Despite Amidala having served her term as queen and transitioned to being a member of the Galactic Senate, her handmaiden Versé was killed in an assassination attempt upon their arrival in Coruscant. Again, Johnston fills in the narrative gaps in Queen’s Shadow, detailing her feelings regarding the loss of not only her handmaiden but friend. We learn throughout the book series that the queen-turned-senator is incredibly close with the other girls. The handmaiden, who all take names similar to Padmé’s when they enter her service in order to confuse others, are among the select few who witness Amidala’s grief and fear. Therefore, when Amidala secretly marries Anakin Skywalker at the end of Episode II, it creates a rift between Padmé and her servants. The handmaidens, specifically Sabé, are so accustomed to knowing everything about Padmé, yet now there’s an aspect of her life she keeps to herself. In Johnston’s novel, Queen’s Hope, set in-between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, the author also hints at Sabé harboring romantic feelings for Amidala, which heightens the jealousy and yearning brimming under Sabé’s calm, collected surface.

Amidala and the Handmaidens Stories are Full of Political and Personal Conflict

The dynamic between Padmé and Sabé is only one of the relationships that are displayed briefly on screen, but are more fully fleshed out in Johnston’s novels. We learn more about all of Padmé’s handmaidens, their backstories, their personalities, and their special abilities throughout the trilogy. Thanks to Johnston, these women are no longer mere figures in the background of a smattering of scenes, but three-dimensional characters. Clone Wars provides an additional aide and confident of Amidala’s with Teckla Minnau. Though she’s not mentioned in Minnau is yet another woman in Padmé’s life that tends to her in her most vulnerable moments, protects her, and ultimately gives her life for her mistress.

In a franchise that’s now redressing the gender balance and adding more complex female-identifying characters on screen, Padmé and her handmaidens are bursting with potential to be further explored and developed on screen. Not only because they have supported a successful book series that Disney already owns the rights to, but also because they depict women unequivocally supporting each other when they’ve traditionally been pitted against one another in media.

The brilliance of the handmaidens is they use other’s assumptions against them serve their leader and advocate for peace and equality in the galaxy. Let’s also not forget that Amidala herself, Natalie Portman, has said she’s open to returning to the Star Wars universe. An animated spy series starring the handmaidens in the vein of The Bad Batch, either adapted from Johnston’s novels or chronicling a new adventure, could very well be the girl gang action-packed story the galaxy is lacking.