So much for the trash compactor.
People has confirmed that Gwendoline Christie will reprise her role as Captain Phasma in Star Wars Episode VIII, despite her character's apparent off-screen death.
"I will be in the next Star Wars movie," said Christie to People's Deputy Editor JD Heyman on Saturday's red carpet preshow for the 2016 SAG Awards. "I think that's an exclusive, actually."
When last seen in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Phasma was introduced during an attack on a Jakku village in search of coordinates to find the missing Luke Skywalker. After the battle was won, Phasma and a squad of Stormtroopers executed the villagers at the order of Kylo Ren. Back on the First Order's base, she ordered Stormtrooper Finn to report for reconditioning. Instead, Finn fled and betrayed the First Order in favor of the Resistance. When Finn, Han Solo, and Chewbacca infiltrated the Starkiller Base later in the film, they took Phasma hostage and forced her to remove the base's shields, before dropping her in a trash compactor to supposedly meet her end.
Christie, 37, also spoke about being cast for the role, saying, "I was very overexcited. I made no secret of the fact that I really campaigned for the part for a long time. And then I was delighted when J.J. Abrams wanted to have me in the film and then wanted to cast me in this role that had originally been designed for a man."
On the subject of her character's chrome-plated costume, Christie remarked, "I thought the costume was incredibly striking. I also just liked this notion of a female stormtrooper, I felt it encouraged diversity, and it was doing something new, and it was an interesting bit of casting for women, and I hope that in something that was such a mainstream success it would breed more of those kind of opportunities for other women."
Star Wars Episode VIII will be directed by Rian Johnson and is currently scheduled to arrive in theaters on December 15, 2017.