Star Wars: The Force Awakens was a film with many goals, not the least of which being to start off a new trilogy in one of science fiction’s most revered series, endear audiences to a whole new cast of characters and establish an ongoing, galaxy-spanning conflict enticing enough for two more films. With all of that in mind, it’s not surprising that a few elements of the film fell by the wayside. One of those elements was a character with a minor role but striking visual aesthetic that caught the imagination of Star Wars fans everywhere -- Gwendoline Christie’s Captain Phasma.

The chrome commander of the First Order's stormtroopers had little to say in The Force Awakens, her main contribution coming in the form of her lowering the Starkiller base’s shields after she was taken hostage by Finn (John Boyega) and Han Solo (Harrison Ford). Phasma is then unceremoniously dumped into a trash compactor by the duo, but that's not the last fans will see of her. Phasma will appear again in the sequel, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and according to the film’s director, Rian Johnson, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Phasma’s role will be significant and include much more action this time around.

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“Gwendoline Christie is one of my favorite people, and you get to see her in action which I think is going to be really fun,” Johnson said. “That character is just so damn cool looking. Like, okay, let’s see what we can do with her. Let’s put her in action and see what happens.”

Johnson went on to say that Phasma’s backstory won’t be explored heavily in The Last Jedi – that’s a job for media outside of the core films. A novel by Delilah S. Dawson (author of two other Star Wars tales, Star Wars: The Perfect Weapon and Scorched) titled Phasma will deal with the character’s upbringing on a harsh world and tell how she escaped by means of the First Order. A comic, simply titled Captain Phasma, will fill readers in on Phasma’s doings between her final appearance in The Force Awakens and her reappearance in The Last Jedi.

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Debuting in theaters on Dec. 15, Star Wars: The Last Jedi is a production of Lucasfilm directed by Rian Johnson and Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong'o, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Gwendoline Christie, Andy Serkis, Benicio del Toro, Laura Dern and Kelly Marie Tran.