The Phasma Menace

Some fans have compared Captain Phasma to Boba Fett, in that she is a well-designed villain without much screen time. Yet fans still feel connected to her because of the potential for her character. We don’t quite know what is under the mask, and that can sometimes be a good thing. Some fans note that she is the first female villain in the Star Wars film franchise (unless you count Zam Wessel).

The funny thing is that “she” was very nearly a “he”. In fact the only reason that Phasma is a woman at all is that Gwendolyn Christie campaigned so hard to be part of “The Force Awakens”. She nagged her agent for weeks until finally he got her a part, only three weeks before principal photography. Phasma was originally designed to be male, but was changed to female during the casting process. Of course, this didn’t stop fanboys from crying “forced diversity”.

Many, including Christie, note that the character of Phasma is breaking new ground for blockbuster Hollywood films, in that she is a strong female that is not sexualized in any way. One male fan even complained that it was “hard to tell” that her armor was designed for a female to which Starwars.com responded: “It’s armor. On a woman. It doesn’t have to look feminine.”

Word from the cantina is that Phasma has a much larger role in 
“The Last Jedi”, which seems to be supported by the fact that Lucasfilm just released a novel and comic series devoted entirely to Phasma.

The novel “Phasma” was written by Delilah S. Dawson. It focuses on Phasma’s origin story and if there is an overall theme to the book, it is this: Empathy is not one of Phasma’s strong suits. Nor is sympathy. Nor is kindness. Phasma is smart, strong, and will do anything to survive. And this book chronicles the choices that Phasma makes to continue to survive on her apocalyptic home planet and the choices that Phasma makes to thrive in the First Order. 

The four part comic series, written by Kelly Thompson, focuses on Phasma’s story immediately after she was thrown into a trash compactor by Han & Finn in the Force Awakens. As far as I know, it is the first Star Wars story to be set in a post-TFA timeline.

Going in to “The Last Jedi” one has to wonder if we will see Phasma without a helmet. On one hand it would be amazing to actually see Gwendolyn Christie flexing her acting muscles without the chrome mask. On the other hand, could it represent something stronger if the audience never saw her face at all? Think of every time Star Wars has been ruined when we found out what was beneath the helmet: Darth Vader, Boba Fett, Jango Fett. Maybe sometimes it’s okay just to leave the helmet on.