Padmé Originally Had a Bigger Part In ‘Revenge of the Sith’ That Connected Directly To The Original Trilogy
The prequel Star Wars films have been thrown aside in the past or deemed horrible by some fans. There’s been a lot more acceptance of them in recent years, and their importance in the grand scheme of the franchise is tough to ignore. They set up the foundation for the original trilogy and introduced significant characters into the universe. Some of the ties to the first movies are obvious, like Darth Vader, Kenobi, or Palpatine. But other tidbits are Easter eggs or subtle links to the original lore. One of those connections is Padmé Amidala’s help in creating the Rebel Alliance, and it was initially more overt in the original script for Revenge of the Sith.
Deleted scenes from ‘Revenge of the Sith’ show Padmé’s agency
Deleted scenes are cut for various reasons, but some aren’t as important as the ones regarding the Delegation of 2,000 in Revenge of the Sith. It shows the founding members of a movement that would go on to create the Rebel Alliance. Mon Mothma, Bail Organa, and Padmé Amidala were just a few of the senators involved that jumpstarted this delegation.
They were wary of Chancellor Palpatine’s growing power and wished to restore correct diplomacy. They wanted to ensure that democracy would win out, no matter what happened, and Palpatine was very obvious with his dictator-like rulings.
They were, of course, correct in their worrying, as Palpatine would overthrow the Jedi and create the Galactic Empire with him as its all-powerful leader. The Senate would go on to just be for show and not mean a thing.
So, this Delegation of 2,000 was a gathering of 2,000 senators committed to stopping Palpatine from further changing the Constitution in his favor. The last scene in this subplot indeed shows how much Padmé’s opinion of the Chancellor differed from Anakin and that she was very set on seeing this through.
Padmé’s direct connection to the Rebel Alliance was shown
It’s evident that at the start of this deleted plot, Padmé was conflicted since Palpatine had been an essential part of her political life. But by the last scene, it’s clear that she will always stand with the Republic. The look passed between Anakin and Padmé was so meaningful, and his refusal to meet her eyes also shows the strain Palpatine was already putting on their relationship.
As seen in Rogue One, senators Mon Mothma and Bail Organa went on to spearhead the Rebel Alliance, and if Padmé had survived, she no doubt would have been a part of it too. Organa almost mentions a rebellion of some kind, but Amidala stops him from verbalizing it in case adversaries overheard him somehow. It makes Princess Leia’s involvement with the rebels a tad more meaningful, with the audience knowing her mother helped create its foundation.
Initial concept art had Padmé plan to kill Anakin on Mustafar
In addition to helping with the Rebel Alliance, the concept art for Revenge of the Sith initially showed Padmé coming to Mustafar with a plan to kill Anakin. Obi-Wan had already told her about what he did to the younglings, and she feared her husband was gone.
However, she couldn’t follow through with stabbing him because she loved him too much. Things still ended horribly for her, but she had a more radical response to Anakin turning to the Dark Side in this deleted concept.
Padmé’s character arc lost a lot of fuel as the prequels went on, and these deleted scenes all gave her so much more agency and depth. Regardless, her connection to the Rebel Alliance is canon, but it would have been nice to see it so overtly laid out in Episode III.
