Star wars: The force awakens' captain phasma was originally a man

Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Captain Phasma was originally written as a man, and actress Gwendoline Christie had no idea.

Speaking with Vulture, Christie was surprised to hear that her role as Captain Phasma was intended to go in a very different direction. When the film was first announced, a notable image of the cast and director was released with a notable lack of females in new roles. Allegedly, around the time of the image surfacing and comments the image director J.J. Abrams and co-writer Lawrence Kasdan, who came onboard to write The Force Awakens after the original Michael Arndt script was scrapped, decided to make a major change regarding Captain Phasma.


“We were just casting about for all the characters,” said Kasdan. “I mean we were making them up at that moment, as costuming and everything else was happening! It’s not like there was a finished script sitting around for months.”

“Everything was happening simultaneously,” Kasdan said. “When the idea came up to make Phasma female, it was instantaneous: Everyone just said, ‘Yes. That’s great.’”

Christie, best known for her role as the imposing Brienne of Tarth in Game of Thrones, appeared to be quite happy with the decision.

“I think that’s great of them, don’t you?” she said. “That there was a discussion about that, and an evolution?”

She also commented on the significance of the character, as well as the chrome armor design that is “entirely functional” and not “sexualized”.

“I remember when I first saw it, I said, ‘Wow’—not just because it looks incredible, although come on—but because I thought, This is new.” Christie said. “I mean, in my own small bubble, this represents the way I think and the way I see things, but it’s not always the way of the world. So for that evolved thinking to be in a Star Wars movie, I think people love that! People have responded so well to that.”

Christie recently spoke about the challenges of her Star Wars villain role, stating playing Brienne in Game of Thrones helped prepare her for Captain Phasma.

Recently, George Lucas offered his opinion on Star Wars: The Force Awakens after an early screening, stating he expects fans are "going to love it."

Star Wars: The Force Awakens hits theaters on December 18th.