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

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.

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:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.