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Star Wars stans rally around one of the many sequel trilogy characters that wound up a wasted

Disney’s Star Wars sequel trilogy has become a byword for cinematic missed opportunities. They had the creative talent, a stacked cast of new faces and franchise icons, and a budget that could have realized any story they liked. But it all fell apart and sputtered to an end with The Rise of Skywalker, with the whole project undermined by a failure to decide the trilogy’s story in advance.

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This led to a bunch of promising characters never getting their moment in the sun, with perhaps the most egregious the complete waste of Gwendoline Christie as Captain Phasma. The character’s eye-catching chrome armor stood out in merchandising, with fans anticipating a long-awaited competent and dangerous Stormtrooper villain.

It didn’t work out like that, with Phasma getting very minimal screentime before being killed off in The Last Jedi. The fan consensus is that she could have been so much more:

Does anyone else believe Phasma was an underused and underrated character? from StarWars

The top reply neatly summarizes one of the core problems of this trilogy:

Comment from discussion Mattrix_0’s comment from discussion "Does anyone else believe Phasma was an underused and underrated character?".

But is this really a sequel trilogy problem, or does this happen across Star Wars?

Comment from discussion kingofmercenaries’s comment from discussion "Does anyone else believe Phasma was an underused and underrated character?".

You’d think having an actor as talented as Christie on board would mean you, I dunno, use her:

Comment from discussion Vampiric_Gal’s comment from discussion "Does anyone else believe Phasma was an underused and underrated character?".

One poor fan was so hyped up they even got a tattoo of her prior to The Force Awakens:

Comment from discussion Cassubeans’s comment from discussion "Does anyone else believe Phasma was an underused and underrated character?".

It’s worth pointing out that Phasma has appeared in several books, so if you’re really craving more, there are options out there:

Comment from discussion NoProNoah’s comment from discussion "Does anyone else believe Phasma was an underused and underrated character?".
Comment from discussion sagavon’s comment from discussion "Does anyone else believe Phasma was an underused and underrated character?".

But was Phasma always just a marketing gimmick for her cool armor?

Comment from discussion rabiddutchman’s comment from discussion "Does anyone else believe Phasma was an underused and underrated character?".

But, to be fair, this opinion isn’t exactly controversial:

Comment from discussion Sheyvan’s comment from discussion "Does anyone else believe Phasma was an underused and underrated character?".

With Disney and Lucasfilm finally pushing forward with a Rise of Skywalker sequel from Damon Lindelof, we’re hoping everyone has learned the lessons of the sequel trilogy. Ultimately, Phasma is emblematic of why those sequels went awry: relying on stuff that looks cool in a trailer or as an action figure, rather than focusing on storytelling fundamentals.

Let’s hope the future is brighter.

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Martina Birk

Update: 2024-01-26