Captain Phasma performer Gwendoline Christie
Captain Phasma is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise, portrayed by English actress Gwendoline Christie. Introduced in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), the first film in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, Phasma is the commander of the First Order's force of stormtroopers. Christie returned to the role in the next of the trilogy's films, Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017), and in the animated television series Star Wars Resistance (2018) and several video games. The character also made an additional appearance in Before the Awakening, an anthology book set before the events of The Force Awakens.
J. J. Abrams created Phasma from an armor design originally developed for Kylo Ren and named her after the 1979 horror film Phantasm. The character was originally conceived as male. Phasma appeared prominently in promotion and marketing for The Force Awakens, but the character's ultimately minor role in the film was the subject of criticism, a complaint repeated for her appearance in The Last Jedi. Nonetheless, merchandise featuring the character found success, and her figure was the best-selling of all The Force Awakens action figures on Amazon.co.uk.Concept and creation
The character's creation was inspired by a rejected design for Kylo Ren. Costume designer Michael Kaplan came up with the concept of Kylo being "the Lord of the Stormtroopers, in bright shining silver armor". Kaplan had a strong image in his head of what this concept should look like, which concept artist Dermot Power turned into an illustration. This image, however, was immediately rejected by director J. J. Abrams. Later, producer Kathleen Kennedy found the design, reacting positively and calling it "fantastic". Abrams then used the design to create a new character, Phasma. He named Phasma after the 1979 horror film Phantasm because her armor reminded him of the film's spheres. Kaplan intended for the visuals of the First Order to contrast with that of the Resistance, appearing in colors like "black, teal blue, and steel gray", with stormtroopers being updated to be more simplified and modernized. Kaplan designed the character believing it would be "extremely cool" to have a silver armored character in the film.The character was not originally conceived as a woman, but rather was changed from male to female during casting, less than three weeks before principal shooting began. Phasma thereby became the second on-screen female Star Wars villain, after Zam Wesell. With Captain Phasma, the filmmakers wished to "push the boundaries" of traditional roles for female characters.Actress Gwendoline Christie, who had previously played Brienne of Tarth in Game of Thrones, was first officially confirmed as Captain Phasma in a Vanity Fair spread released May 4, 2015, following its leak. Christie fought heavily to appear in the film, continually insisting her agent get her a part in it. Christie was not aware that the character was originally a man. Christie took inspiration from her armor—"it's very high-functioning, it's very imposing and it's not malleable at all"—in how to play the character. In playing Phasma, Christie felt encouraged to experiment more with the gesture of a character.Her initial costume, used in The Force Awakens, had to be created over a period of "four or five days"; co-costume designer Dave Crossman described its physical creation as "a complete panic". It took Christie roughly forty-five minutes to put on. A new suit was created for The Last Jedi, with various tweaks. Its helmet was re-chromed, the fit was altered, and the armor was made "much cleaner and shinier."
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