Star Wars: Captain Phasm actor revealed

Gwendoline Christie has been revealed as the actress for Star Wars: Force Awakened character Captain Phasm

Character and story details for the new Star Wars movie set to release in December are starting to come out in anticipation of that release. J.J. Abrams and his staff and cast have done an extraordinarily good job of keeping the details of the movie closely guarded.

We know it’s set thirty or so years after Return of the Jedi, which makes sense given that the original cast will be in the movie and Return of the Jedi came out 32 years ago. We know that there’s something called the First Order which appears to be a successor of the Galactic Empire from the original trilogy. We know that there’s a dark Jedi or Sith who is either leading or affiliated with the First Order and that his name is Kylo Ren.

Other details can be gleaned from the trailers and small bits of leaked information which indicates that forces resembling the Rebellion, or perhaps the New Republic now, are still fighting forces resembling the Empire, or the First Order now. X-Wings and Star Destroyers and TIE Fighters are still in the mix.

One new detail we’ve learned is that Gwendoline Christie, best known for her role as the towering warrior Brienne of Tarth in Game of Thrones, will be playing a character named Captain Phasm. Captain Phasm is a member of the First Order so chances are she’s going to be a villain, but there’s certainly room for character redemption in Star Wars. Her character is seen wearing a dark silvery set of stormtrooper armor with a black cape over one shoulder. Something about her character gives me a Boba Fett vibe. Maybe it’s that swagger in the trailer, maybe it’s the cape, or maybe it’s the blaster in her hands.

More details are sure to be revealed in the coming months as we get closer to release. We can all hope that these details don’t reveal too much and that there’s still plenty of mystery surrounding the movie come release day. More importantly, we can all hope that the release of The Force Awakens doesn’t crash and burn in the same way that Phantom Menace did sixteen years ago.

For right now, we know that Gwendoline Christie is in it and we know that she has a character that looks rather imposing, as befits her. Hopefully it can be as imposing and enduring as Boba Fett before her.