'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' News: Phasma's Short Screen Time Explained; Will She Return?
Fans who wanted to see more of Captain Phasma (Gwendoline Christie) in "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" are left disappointed in the sequel.
The chrome armor-donning Stormtrooper commander, who quickly became the breakout character in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" appeared only briefly in the middle act of the film.
Her short screen time ended with her falling into what appeared to be a fiery death, but not without giving fans a glimpse of her eye after part of her helmet was smashed to bits by her nemesis Finn (John Boyega).
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In an interview with IGN, "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" writer-director Rian Johnson said that this was the plan for Phasma all along, giving a straight "no" answer when asked if he had bigger plans for the fan-favorite character.
However, Captain Phasma's short screen time is because the movie just had a lot of ground to cover, making it the longest "Star Wars" movie in the franchise:
I mean, as you can see, man, we had a really full movie already. We had a big, big movie with a lot of characters we were trying to serve, and the God's honest truth is, every character had to find their natural place.
And Phasma supports Finn's storyline, obviously, and there just ... until she shows up to fight him at the end, look through the story that we have, there's just not a lot of space to go into a big Phasma storyline in it.
So the truth is. It's just a very big cast and you have to kind of pick your battles with it.
It is unclear what happened to Phasma by the end of "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" although the understanding is that she fell into her blazing death after her final showdown with the former Stormtrooper under her leadership.
Many hope that she made it through. Mark Hamill aka Luke Skywalker speculated in a post-screening Q and A session with Entertainment Weekly that "she's got to survive. She falls through the flames and lands on a big pile of rubbish."
"Star Wars: The Last Jedi" is in theaters now.
