‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ Director Defends Captain Phasma’s Screen Time

While Star Wars: The Last Jedi resonated with plenty of fans, it arguably left a few characters somewhat underused. But according to the film’s director, Rian Johnson, one character was always meant to have a supporting role.

In a recent interview with IGN, Johnson addressed the film’s use of Captain Phasma (Gwendoline Christie), the First Order trooper leader.

As he explained, Phasma naturally fit into a smaller role in the film, especially considering how much ground The Last Jedi had to cover.

“I mean, as you can see, man, we had a really full movie already.” Johnson explained. “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.”

This choice didn’t sit well with some fans, especially those who were disappointed by Phasma’s lack of screen time in The Force Awakens. While larger stories about Phasma have been told in the Star Wars comics and novelizations, Johnson felt there just wasn’t enough story space to give her a larger storyline.

“Phasma supports Finn’s (John Boyega) storyline, obviously.” Johnson continued. “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.”

Phasmaappeared to perish at the end of her The Last Jedi screen time, after being knocked onto a crumbling platform by Finn. But as Johnson stated in another recent interview, there’s certainly an avenue for Phasma to return.

“Phasma is the Kenny from South Park of this series,” Johnson joked.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is in theaters now.