Disney's Star Wars canon has been improving the prequels for a while now, but there is still one important character missing. It can be argued that the Star Wars prequel trilogy was built on three characters - Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Padmé Amidala. However, whereas the first two have been revisited in live-action, Natalie Portman's final appearance as Padmé happened in 2005's Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith.
After trying to move away from the prequels with Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars soon realized that ignoring such a vast universe of characters, locations, and storylines was a mistake. As flawed as the Star Wars prequel trilogy was, Episodes I, II, and III had a level of innovation - not just in terms of technology, but also world-building - that not even the Star Wars sequels could match. From Star Wars' prequel actors returning for small cameos to shows entirely focused on prequel-era stories, Star Wars has come a long way since The Force Awakens tried to kill the Sith and ignore all things prequels.
More than acknowledging the prequels, Star Wars is taking the chance to revisit beloved characters from Episodes I, II, and III in ways that improves both their stories and roles in the saga. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, for example, brought Jimmy Smits back as Bail Organa, bridging a prequel character with the original trilogy setting - Bail was Leia's father and died in Alderaan, even though the original Star Wars was written decades before the character was created. Likewise, Genevieve O'Reilly, who played Mon Mothma in a deleted Revenge of the Sith scene, reprised her role as the Rebels' leader in Rogue One and Andor.
However, it was only after The Mandalorian that Star Wars really opened the door for the prequels to be revisited on a major scale. Granted, The Mandalorian was heavily inspired by the character of Boba Fett, which was an original trilogy creation. Still, from the name "Mandalorian" itself to the world around Din, The Mandalorian was aesthetically closer to the prequel era - especially after The Clone Wars characters started to join live-action. Following The Mandalorian's success in bringing characters like Bo-Katan Kryze and Ahsoka Tano into a major Disney Star Wars release, it became clear that prequel-era stories could be told.
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Ewan McGregor returned as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series which, despite taking place nine years before A New Hope in the Star Wars timeline, borrowed way more from the prequel era than from the original films. The very fact that the Obi-Wan Kenobi referenced in the show's title was the Ewan McGregor version made Obi-Wan Kenobi a prequel legacy series, almost like a Revenge of the Sith sequel. This "sequel of a prequel" gave McGregor's Obi-Wan, one of the best things about the prequel trilogy, even more time to shine. Still, the biggest prequels fix in Obi-Wan Kenobi was not about Obi-Wan.
Hayden Christensen reprised his role as Anakin Skywalker in Obi-Wan Kenobi, except that now Christensen actually got to play Darth Vader. When Christensen was cast as Anakin for Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, George Lucas was not necessarily looking for a fully formed Darth Vader - the idea was to show how different Anakin was before turning to the dark side. Christensen played a Jedi teenager in Attack of the Clones and then a fallen Anakin in Revenge of the Sith, and it was only in Kenobi that he got to merge all those eras into a Darth Vader portrayal.
Though the Star Wars prequels did not have a trio in the same sense as Luke, Leia, and Han in the original Star Wars movie, it can be argued that Episodes II and III both had three main characters. Christensen's Anakin Skywalker, McGregor's Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Natalie Portman's Padmé Amidala were the trilogy's focuses between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, with the relationship between the three characters setting the stage for the events that would define Anakin and the galaxy's future. It is impossible to discuss the Star Wars prequels without bringing up Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Padmé.
Still, while both Anakin and Obi-Wan returned in Obi-Wan Kenobi, Padmé has yet to be revisited in live-action. Padmé continues to be an important Star Wars character in the Disney canon, appearing in animated content and several novels, but a mainstream return in the style of Obi-Wan and Anakin would be welcomed. Though Padmé's role as a leader and a figure of opposition to Palpatine was well-developed in both the prequels and the Disney canon, there is still room for the character to be explored. Padmé's story in the Star Wars prequels is told mostly from Anakin's point of view, but showing more events from her eyes can only be a benefit.
The Queen's trilogy by E. K. Johnston is an example of how the current Star Wars canon has improved Padmé's Star Wars legacy. By telling a story set between The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones, Queen's Shadow gave Padmé Amidala a level of character agency that the Star Wars prequel trilogy did not. By the time audiences are reintroduced to Padmé in Attack of the Clones, it is through Anakin's perspective that the former queen and now senator of Naboo rejoins the story. In addition, it is Anakin and Padmé's romance that takes most of the screen time during Attack of the Clones.
Queen's Shadow was followed by Queen's Peril, which was actually set far before the first novel and revisits Padmé's time as Queen of Naboo. Like Queen's Shadow, Queen's Peril fleshed out Padmé's character way more than The Phantom Menace did, retroactively making Episode I better in the process. Concluding the trilogy, Queen's Hope was set after Attack of the Clones and before Revenge of the Sith, offering a closer look at how the Clone Wars affected Padmé. Such a level of character development is an example of how Star Wars' transmedia approach benefits the entire saga, but a live-action Padmé return can also work.
Portman's return to Star Wars as Padmé Amidala would have to involve either a flashback or a story set before the events of Revenge of the Sith. Perhaps the perfect Star Wars story for Portman to return as Padmé would be Obi-Wan Kenobi season 2, as the show feels so much like a direct sequel to Episode III. The relationship between Anakin and Obi-Wan and how their brotherhood contributed to the former's tragic fall to the dark side was at the heart of Kenobi season 1, which could be emulated now by exploring the relationship between Anakin and Padmé.
An Obi-Wan Kenobi flashback set during the prequels, similar to season 1's Obi-Wan and Anakin training sequence, featuring both Portman's Padmé Amidala and Christensen's Anakin Skywalker, would be an emotional, nostalgic moment that would elevate season 2. Something in the style of Charles Soule's Darth Vader comics could also work, with Vader thinking and seeing visions of Padmé. Other potential Star Wars shows in which Portman could return are Andor season 2 and The Mandalorian, as both of those shows can always naturally fit pre-Order 66 flashbacks within their stories.