Versé

Versé, formerly known as Versaat, was a human female who was the niece of Mariek Panaka, a captain in the Royal Naboo Security Forces and the wife of Captain Quarsh Panaka. Versé was recommended by Panaka to join Senator Padmé Amidala's new cohort of Handmaidens. She was a top-notch slicer and used her talents in Amidala's service in more ways than one.
In 22 BBY, Versé and her fellow handmaiden Cordé were killed when the ship they had traveled to the planet Coruscant on was destroyed by the bounty hunter Zam Wesell in an attempt to kill Amidala and prevent her from voting against the Military Creation Act.
==Behind the scenes==
Versé was portrayed by Avril Wynne in the 2002 film Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones, the second installment of the Star Wars prequel trilogy. As Wynne remained uncredited until 2019 and her face was mostly obscured throughout her sole scene in Attack of the Clones, author E. K. Johnston opted to substitute a new person as inspiration for the character's physical appearance when writing Queen's Shadow. Johnston sought to create a more racially diverse cast in Queen's Shadow than found in the films and based Versé's appearance on a tour guide she had at Rotorua, New Zealand. Johnston envisioned the character as stockier in build than her fellow Naboo Royal Handmaidens and portrayed by an actress of Māori descent, much like Queen Apailana's actress, Keisha Castle-Hughes.
Johnston also toyed with the possibility of making Versé a transgender woman in Queen's Shadow, but decided against including it openly in the novel because at the time of writing it she did not feel she could do it justice.
 The author later indicated that she personally viewed Versé as trans, in her heart, but noted that aspect of her character never made it in the finished work.
In an interview, Johnston stated that she explicitly chose to include a scene—ultimately a conversation between Amidala and Rush Clovis—due to Queen's Shadow not having any trans characters. She indicated that she had originally started working on Versé being trans in the novel, saying that since the actor playing the character in Attack of the Clones was not clearly visible, she had more room to work with while drafting a story. However, Johnston noted that she quickly realized she did not want to pursue the concept for two reasons, one being that she wanted the first time she wrote a trans character to mean something the first time she wrote one for Star Wars, instead of it being a brief mention. Secondly, the author felt strongly that she could not make Versé trans because she canonically dies, as it would be disappointing to readers if such a character was introduced and then swiftly killed off. Instead, Versé was given a backstory as a skilled slicer, though her origins still reflected a similar character arc to Nomi Marks from the Netflix series Sense8, who is a transgender character.
==Appearances==
*Queen's Shadow 
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*Attack of the Clones Read-Along Storybook and CD 
*Queen's Hope 
==Sources==
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==Notes and references==
Category:Females
Category:Galactic Republic individuals
Category:Humans
Category:Individuals with she/her pronouns
Category:Naboo Royal Handmaidens
Category:Slicers