Image by Mike Bastarache
This character, who will eventually wed Anakin Skywalker and give birth to Luke and Leia, has been the most important Star Wars figure we've known the least about. Carrie Fisher, who is script doctoring the first prequel, has publicly said that the queen will be 14 years old in the first film.
This passage from the Return of the Jedi novelization, spoken by Obi-Wan Kenobi to Luke Skywalker, reveals a bit about the queen:
"When your father left, he didn't know that your mother was pregnant. Your mother and I knew he would find out eventually, but we wanted to keep you both as safe as possible. So I took you to live with my brother Owen, on Tatooine ... and your mother took Leia to live as the daughter of Senator Organa on Alderaan."
These were the audition requirements for the queen:
THE QUEEN: Eurasian/Latina girl 13-14. An enchanting young girl, already showing signs of blossoming into a sensual, exotic darkhaired beauty. By contrast, however, she has the reserve, political accumen, poise and bearing of a queen and ruler, together with a natural wisdom and sensativity that cannot be taught. A strong, spirited, and highly intelligent girl, she is quick to learn the principals of justice and honor. She is a great leader and it is apparent to all.
Natalie Portman has been called on to play the young queen for at least the first prequel. Sources at the San Diego Comic Con reported that Lucasfilm representitive Steve Sansweet said Portman was chosen because of her ability to play younger and older characters. This would lead us to believe she will be the queen for all three, which is being reported by almost every reliable source...still no official word yet though.
Lucasfilm registred the domain name www.amidala.com, which seems to confirm the information Roderick Vonhogen and Harry Knowles received saying the queen's full name was Padme Naberrie Amidala. Of course we knew the Padme part first :)
Delta Source: SPOILERS! Highlight below to uncover them!
Delta tells us that the queen's name--as she was refered to during the Tunisian shoot--was Padme. Some of the scenes on Tatooine that Padme will be involved in are Anakin's pod race in the Mos Espa Arena and a few scenes with Anakin, Kister and R2-D2 in the backyard of a slave quarters.
Jix: SPOILERS! Highlight below to uncover them!
According to Jix, the queen was called Thenna on the Caserta set. Here's a bit of information Jix was kind enough to relay to us regarding the queen's homeworld and a conflict that arises there. Jix told us this information back before anyone had heard of Darth Maul or Naboo.
Naboo is some sort of planet-symbol of the Old Republic. It has minimal political power, but it is ruled by the most ancient and noble house, the one that saw the beginning of the Republic. The last descendant of this noble house is precisely the Young Queen. She was called Thenna, so we'll take this name for good. First question: will Thenna be the mother of Luke and Leia? Quite possible. Natalie Portman in 16-17 years old, but who was on the set said she wore clothes and make-up to make her look a lot younger. If she manages to reach about 10-11 years, then the age matches with that of young Anakin [[Note from Chris: The queen will be 14 in the film, Jix is mistaken about the age she will need to look]] . The opposite job should be done for the next two movies, in which she should be made to look older (Ep. II and III). Thenna rules the planet with the aid of some sort of matriarcal council, a number of middle-aged women dressed in tunics much like Mon Mothma. At her court, a volley of alien ambassadors, nobles and representatives from all the galaxy. The Royal guards of Thenna are dressed in red robes very similar to the Emperor's royal guards in Jedi. Needless to say, the planet Naboo is a place of joy and prosperity that seems extract right from a level of Dungeon Keeper (if you're in computer games you know what I mean). Daylight always shines (don't ask me why or how), runes, dragons and symbols of old are everywhere and peace and prosperity reign unchalleged.
Luckily for us this peace is interrupted by the assaults of the Nimoudians. Who or what are the Nimoudians? Nothing here, except that they are caught in a longstanding war with Naboo and that they are aliens, very tall and very thin. They conduct the assault on the Royal Palace of Naboo using war droids capable of shape-changing their structure, a little similar to IG-88 in the likeness. Some people who managed to glimpse at the scenes also mentioned something about a scene in the Palace in which Thenna and the ambassadors suddenly draw their weapons and declare to the Nimoudians "you have lost", which might be the resolution of the Naboo-Nimoudian conflict. Anyway, from what I gathered it would seem that the aforementioned council, tired of suffering the Nimoudians' assault, suggests Thenna to ask for the Jedi Knights' help, end here's how she is drawn into the events of the trilogy.
Interesting stuff there. The Nimoudians sound just like aliens that attacked Luke, Leia and Han in at Cloud City in an early draft of Empire.
Alpha Blue:
Alpha Blue tells us that Padme is the queen of a dying race. Alpha
supports Jix's information that Padme has a matriarchal council that helps
her rule, and adds that a council of male and female Jedi play a role in
her society as well.
Alpha also adds that the queen will have a bodyguard who is a CG
character. He tells me Jar Jar is not the bodyguard.
Image by Harry Knowles
Harry Knowles' Imperial Droid:
SPOILERS! Highlight the space below to uncover them!
The Imperial Droid seems very reliable--after all he showed us pictures
from the set. He tells us that Naboo are actually the people of
Coruscant, and the queen lives in the Palace there.
Prequel Watch's True Fan: True Fan tells us that the one of the queen's costumes for Episode I will be similar to Princess Leia's white dress during the medal ceremony at the end of Episode IV, except that it will have a lower collar, and is blue in color with marble accents. Mike Bastarache's image at the top of this page is based on that description. True Fan's description of Liam Neeson's character's costume is remarkabley accurate as it is seen in the French Premiere pictures.
What is her name?
Harry Knowles and Roderick Vonhogen report that a source contacted them saying that Lucasfilm has registered the name "Queen Padme Naberrie Amidala" for copyright in the United Kingdom. Lucasilm registered the domain name www.amidala.com, so that would confirm this rumor!
Delta Source tells us she was called Padme during the Tunisian shoot, and Jix tells us she was called Thenna during the Caserta shoot. However, every other bit of overlapping information given by those two spys matched. That leads us to believe that either Thenna is some title she uses on her homeworld or that Thenna and Padme are names used in two different copies of the script. Lucasfilm could be calling the new characters by different names in different copies of the script as a secrecy tactic. If that theory is true, either Padme or Thenna or something else entirely could end up as the queen's name in the final print of the film.
Here are a few of the other names batted around in the last few years: Arkady and Arcadia were creations of John Flynn, the writer of the fan fiction Episode III treatment known as the Fall of the Republic--they will not be the queen's name. In the Black Fleet Crisis Trilogy a character lures Luke into following her by promising information on his mother...who she calls Narisha. It turns out that character was full of B.S. and Narisha was just a fabrication so that won't be the name either.
Chris received word a while back that the queen will be a Force-senative. She will have power within the Force, according to this source, and will be trained by a Jedi who is serving as her bodyguard. Even if his source on that turns out to be false we believe she will be a Force user. Ben Kenobi told Luke the Force was strong in his family...and Luke's mother is certainly part of his family.
Kivlehan: Thenna. An interesting name choice (assuming it's true). Why Thenna? It's similiar to Athena, the greek warrior-goddess. Is there a connection? It is very likely the character will have Force powers; perhaps she will train in the ways the Jedi. Perhaps the Bonjok character may not be an original character, but a test for the queen under a different name. If you think about Athena's attitude and the attitude shown in the alleged test passage for the "Bonjok" character they are quite similiar. The only problem with that is the whole Bonjok thing was b.s...or was it? While the person who told the Texas A&M site that info was lying about who he was, much of the information he gave was true. Even if the Bonjok thing is false, some similiar connection to the greek goddess is possible. I can't help but think the similiarity in the name is intentional, but it could be that Lucas just liked the letters together. One reader of the site did point out to me that George Lucas has a history of playing around with a few letters in names and coming up with new names: he said Ewok was derrived from Wookiee, and it seems clear that Alderaan is derived from the real star system Aldeberaan.
Casting
Kate Winslet, Bijou Phillips, Kristen Scott Thomas and Winona Ryder were among the names listed as possible actresses to fill this role at one age or another. Well, that's all hewey, since we have it on good authority that Natalie Portman will be playing the queen in all three prequels.
The queen will not have any connection to the Fallanasi, most likely. The people who started the rumor that the queen would be a Fallanasi took that from The Black Fleet Crisis novels by Michael P. Kube-McDowell. If they had finished that trilogy they would have known that the queen will likely have no ties to the Fallanasi whatsoever.