Versé, formerly going by the name Versaat, was a human female. She was related to Mariek Panaka, a captain within the Royal Naboo Security Forces, as her niece. Furthermore, she was the wife of Captain Quarsh Panaka. Due to Panaka's recommendation, Versé became a member of Senator Padmé Amidala's newly formed group of Handmaidens. She excelled as a slicer, utilizing her abilities in various capacities for Amidala.
In the year 22 BBY, both Versé and her fellow handmaiden Cordé met their death. This occurred when the ship they were aboard, en route to the planet Coruscant, was obliterated by bounty hunter Zam Wesell. This act was an attempt to assassinate Amidala and prevent her vote against the Military Creation Act.
Avril Wynne played Versé in the 2002 movie Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones, which was the second film in the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Because Wynne was not credited until 2019, and her face was mostly hidden during her only scene in Attack of the Clones, author E. K. Johnston chose to use a different person as the inspiration for the character's appearance when she wrote Queen's Shadow. Johnston wanted to create a more racially diverse cast in Queen's Shadow than what was seen in the movies. She based Versé's appearance on a tour guide she encountered in Rotorua, New Zealand. Johnston imagined the character as having a sturdier build compared to her fellow Naboo Royal Handmaidens. She also envisioned her being portrayed by an actress of Māori descent, similar to how Queen Apailana's actress, Keisha Castle-Hughes, was.
Johnston also considered making Versé a transgender woman in Queen's Shadow, but she decided not to include it explicitly in the novel because, at the time of writing, she felt she couldn't do it justice. The author later said that she personally saw Versé as trans in her heart, but she noted that this aspect of the character was never included in the final version of the work.
In an interview, Johnston said that she specifically chose to include a scene—a conversation between Amidala and Rush Clovis—because Queen's Shadow did not have any trans characters. She said that she had originally started to work on Versé being trans in the novel, saying that because the actor who played the character in Attack of the Clones was not clearly visible, she had more freedom to work with while writing the story. However, Johnston said that she quickly realized that she did not want to pursue the concept for two reasons. One reason was that she wanted the first time she wrote a trans character to be meaningful when 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 quickly 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.