It is fair to say I’ve wanted more of the Handmaidens of Naboo since 1999. I love that Queen Amidala is a teen girl, but every Disney Princess, for example, is a teen girl. Princess Leia is a teen girl. That Queen Amidala’s secret service are also teen girls is amazing. She travels everywhere with a squad of highly educated and highly trained young women who know each other intimately. How could I, or anyone, not want more?
My Pitch
Periodically someone somewhere will ask “what’s your pitch for a Star Wars film?”. My answer is always the same.
There are plenty of films or series I want to see made — more Han Solo, Bail Organa and young Leia, Ahsoka, etc. But I want to create one about the Handmaidens of Naboo. A group of teen girls (and some boys) living and training together in a highly regulated environment is exactly the story I want to tell. One with rivalry and romance, intrigue and teamwork, wit and melodrama. And of course, amazing costumes.
Support Teen Girls
And while I want my series about teen girls to appeal to a wide audience, the target demographic is also teen girls. Teen girls are mocked for their fandom, for their passion, and I want to reward them instead.
Padmé is the protagonist of The Phantom Menace. It is her story, but the rest of Star Wars isn’t so fans force someone else into the role. Someone important like Qui-Gon or Anakin. Someone important like a Jedi. Someone important like a man. Rey is inarguably the protagonist of the sequel trilogy yet those same fans still argue against it. And if she is? Well, then, she has to be related to someone important like a Jedi, like a man.
My series wouldn’t be about Padmé and her handmaidens, though I love every one. My series would be about the program, the school and the system, and would feature new characters. A whole class of teen girls training to protect and portray a Queen. Maybe one is related to someone we know. Maybe one is Force sensitive. Maybe not. But they are individually and collectively heroines. The Handmaidens of Naboo.
What’s your Star Wars pitch?