Natalie Portman Admits She Stole Hayden Christensen’s Padawan Braid From ‘Star Wars’ Set

Actress Natalie Portman is confessing that she actually stole a surprising item from the set of "Star Wars."

The "Black Swan" actress played Queen Amidala in the "Star Wars" prequel trilogy alongside Hayden Christensen and his character of Anakin Skywalker, who would eventually become Darth Vader.

As their relationship heated up in "Attack of the Clones," Portman revealed that she snagged a souvenir from the set in order to remember their time together!

During the prequel trilogy, and especially in “Attack of the Clones,” Hayden Christensen wore two Jedi Padawan braids in order to show his rank in the Jedi Order. In a recent interview for GQ’s “Actually Me” series, Portman confessed that she actually stole one of his braids to take home as a souvenir.

"From the second one, I took one of Anakin's braids," Portman confessed. "He had that little braid hanging down." However, she doesn’t seem to have it anymore. “Then I lost it,” she added, admitting, “So that’s not very helpful.”

During the same interview, she also reflected on the purple visitation dress that she wore in “The Phantom Menace” which has since become a fan-favorite. "This one is pretty incredible," she said of the dress. "It's got such, kind of, Japanese elements."

She was also directly asked, “Any chance that Padme / Natalie Portman returns to ‘Star Wars?’ Her character really deserves it with the way she was treated in ‘Revenge of the Sith’ and overall importance to the Original Trilogy story?”

“I have no information on this. No one’s ever asked me to return, but I’m open to it,” she replied.

However, that’s not completely true. In July 2022, in an interview with Rolling Stone, director Taika Waititi was working with Portman on “Thor: Love and Thunder.” He asked Natalie Portman if she would ever like to work with him again, which led her to inquire about which projects he was working on.

"She said to me, 'What are you up to next?' I said, 'Oh, I'm trying to work on a Star Wars thing. Have you ever wanted to be in a Star Wars movie?'" That prompted Portman to awkwardly remind him that she starred as Padmé Amidala in the three “Star Wars” movies that made up the prequel trilogy.

When the reporter asked the director if that really happened, Waititi explained, "I forgot about those ones," referring to the movies in the prequel trilogy. “She said 'I've been in a Star Wars movie,'" Waititi continued. "And I went '…should we do another take?'"

In March 2023, Variety reported that Waititi “continues to work” on his “Star Wars” script and will “most likely have a part in it as well.” Lucasfilm first announced that he was going to create a new “Star Wars” movie alongside “Last Night in Soho” writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns on May 4, 2020, but it seems that little progress has been made on the film since that time.

In July 2022, Waititi was asked by /Film how far along he’s gotten in completing the script. “At the moment it’s just very early, because I … still haven’t even finished the script,” Waititi said at the time. “I’m still trying to come up with ideas and I’m mostly kind of in that part of the process where it’s still very kind of open.”

“And when I write, I kind of write every idea I’ve ever had and then start to kind of chisel it down into something,” he continued. “But I’m still throwing everything at the wall right now.”

In a separate interview with Total Film, Waititi revealed that he planned on expanding the galaxy far, far away with new characters.

“Look, I think for the Star Wars universe to expand, it has to expand,” Waititi said. “I don’t think that I’m any use in the Star Wars universe making a film where everyone’s like, ‘Oh great, well that’s the blueprints to the Millennium Falcon, ah that’s Chewbacca’s grandmother.'”

“That all stands alone, that’s great, though I would like to take something new and create some new characters and just expand the world, otherwise it feels like it’s a very small story,” he went on.

However, in yet another interview with the New York Times, Waititi expressed doubt that the movie will be made, even if he finishes the script.

“I’m trying to write the ‘Star Wars’ idea at the moment,” he explained. “I’ve got to see how that goes, because once I submit it, that might determine when it gets made or if it gets made, even.”

At least fans have three new "Star Wars" movies to look forward to!