Actress Gwendoline Christie, who played the female Chrome Trooper Captain Phasma in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," recently confirmed that she will be returning in the sequel, "Star Wars Episode VIII."
"I will be in the next 'Star Wars' movie. I think that's an exclusive, actually," the actress stated during the SAG Awards ceremony, as per a report from People Magazine.
"I also just liked this notion of a female stormtrooper," she continued to explain. "I felt it encouraged diversity and it was doing something new and it was an interesting bit of casting for women, and I hope that in something that was such a mainstream success it would breed more of those kind of opportunities for other women."
Captain Phasma was one of the most hyped character for the film given that she was the first female to don the Trooper armor and was the first Chrome Trooper in the feature films.
[Spoiler Warning] However, her character had little screen time in the film and eventually was thrown into a garbage chute when Finn (John Boyega) and Han Solo (Harrison Ford) took over Starkiller Base. It was presumed she died when the base exploded but Christie's statements now suggest otherwise.
As pointed out in a report from Polygon, despite her few appearances in "The Force Awakens," it is likely that she will be given a more substantial role in the two sequels to follow. Many fans are now comparing Captain Phasma to that of the bounty hunter Boba Fett (Jeremy Bulloch).
The character of Boba Fett was given little attention in "Return of the Jedi" but played a significant role in the previous entry, "The Empire Strikes Back." Like Captain Phasma, Boba Fett became incredibly popular despite having a limited amount of screen time in the films.
"Star Wars: Episode VIII" is currently in production under the direction of Rian Johnson and is scheduled to release on Dec. 15, 2017.
