Facts and trivia about Captain Phasma

Facts and trivia about Captain Phasma

Captain Phasma is the new kick ass bad guy gal that features in The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi

Arguably the new Bobba Fett of the third Star Wars trilogy, Phasma is played by fan boy favourite, Gwendoline Christie. Christie made a name for herself in Game of Thrones playing Brienne of Tarth, a strong female character that has echoes of Ellen Ripley from Alien.

The Force Awakens producer's clearly wanted to parlay this fan boy love for Christie  and her bad ass reputation into their bad ass Phasma.

They didn't need to really as the moment the first images of Phasma were released, Star Wars fans adopted the character nearly as fast as they did the new robot BB-8.

The book was judged by its cover so to speak, which is perhaps somewhat ironic due to the intention to have Phasma be played by a strong female actress to negate some of the stereotypes that abound in film making.

This point is better covered by a better writer than this one.

Here's some handy facts and trivia about Captain Phasma.

• How did Phasma get her name? The Force Awakens' director JJ Abrams named Phamsa because of the amazing chrome design that came from Michael Kaplan’s wardrobe design team. It reminded him of the murderous silver ball in the film Phantasm. Check out the image to the right. 
• Phasma's armour design was originally a concept consideration for the Kylo Ren character.
• Phasma is an officer of the First Order. 

Phantasm film poster

• Phasma wears a black cape with red trim, the colours of the First Order. Given that Phasma was inspired by the Boba Fett character it's no surprise she has a cape as the original idea for Fett was to have him wear a cape / poncho in the style of The Man with no Name from Clint Eastward's Spaghetti Westerns.
• Originally intended to be played as a male character, the fan response to the lack of female characters in the movie at the first cast announcement prompted a quick change in identity. As the part had not been cast, Christie was found to be the solution. 
• Like Judge Dredd and Bobba Fett, Phama's face has not been revealed and probably never will be. Unless she turns out to be Rey's sister or something...
• In The Last Jedi, Phasma's weapon of choice was a spear.
• The fact that Phasma is a female villain provoked a lot of discussion. One Star Wars fan suggested they weren’t being sexist when said “Not to be sexist but it’s really hard to tell that’s female armour for me”. These kind of comments drew a firm response from Gwendoline Christie: “And 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. I think we’re a society that has promoted a homogenized idea of beauty in women — and in men — and I think it’s really interesting, modern and necessary to have a female character that isn’t about the way her body looks."
• Here's some quotes from Phasma in The Force Awakens.
• The chrome armour costume is said to be taken from a space yacht built on the planet Naboo that Sith Lord Palpatine once owned. The suit is thus able to repel radiation however Phasma used the recycled chrome as a symbol of might and power.