Gwendolyn Christie’s Captain Phasma will return in ‘Episode VIII’
Ahead of Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens arriving in theaters, Star Wars 8 details are already being compiled by frenzied fans.
Screen Rant reports that a villain from the film is already sure to return for Star Wars 8. According to the website, this evildoer is none other than stormtrooper leader Captain Phasma, played by Game of Thrones’ Gwendolyn Christie.
Screen Rant cites a report by LA Times featuring the women of the Star Wars franchise. The report takes note of Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy’s opinion about the character. Speaking of the longer life span of Phasma, the website quotes Kennedy in saying: “She’s an important character, a baddie in the best sense of the word.”
Screen Rant also shares that since Captain Phasma is the franchise’s first female villain, it would be important to keep her around for Star Wars 8. The move will also be aligned with Lucasfilm’s effort to promote gender equivalency, SR reports.
Collider offers a background of how the character came to be, stating that Captain Phasma or Chrometrooper was initially meant to be played by a male if not for Kennedy and J.J. Abrams’ decision to swap the character’s gender.
Christie says that “…the reason I love my character so much and I feel so enthusiastic about Capt. Phasma is, yes, she’s cool, she looks cool, she’s a villain — but more than that, we see a female character and respond to her not because of the way she looks. We respond to her because of her actions.”
Christie continues that slowly changing traditional gender roles in film is a good legacy that will be left by her character.
“These movies will all be so different. [Episode VIII director] Rian Johnson is a friend of mine – he’s going to make some weird thing. If you’ve seen Rian’s work, you know it’s not going be like anything that’s ever been in Star Wars,” says creator Lawrence Kasdan.
“You couldn’t have three more different people than J.J. (Abrams), Rian and [Episode IX director] Colin (Trevorrow). Those movies will have the Star Wars saga as their basis, but everything else will be different. Then Phil Lord and Chris Miller are going to make the Han Solo film and I can’t guess what that will be like – and I’m writing it!”
Star Wars: Episode VII: The Force Awakens will premiere on December 18 while Star Wars Episode VIII is scheduled for a May 26, 2017 release.
