Star Wars 8 Last Jedi director speaks out on Captain Phasma criticism
STAR WARS: EPISODE 8 director Rian Johnson has explained why there’s a disappointing amount of Captain Phasma in the new movie.
Gwendoline Christie plays Captain Phasma
The Gwendoline Christie stormtrooper, who was chucked down a trash compactor at the end of Episode 7, made only a small appearance in The Last Jedi.
Warning: spoilers ahead.
Christie’s character appears for the first time very late in the film, when she meets and clashes with Finn (John Boyega).
The two battle, and it’s not long before she is given a spectacular, fiery death.
Captain Phasma is a popular supporting character
John Boyega plays Finn, Phasma's nemesis
Johnson told IGN: "I mean, as you can see, man, we had a really full movie already.
“We had a big, big movie with a lot of characters we were trying to serve, and the God's honest truth is, every character had to find their natural place.
"Phasma supports Finn's storyline, obviously... and until she shows up to fight him at the end, look through the story that we have, there's just not a lot of space to go into a big Phasma storyline in it."
He added: "The truth is, it's just a very big cast and you have to kind of pick your battles with it.”
Rey calls for help in Chinese Star Wars: The Last Jedi trailer
The Last Jedi has been an enormous box office success, and also ranked very highly amongst critics.
It has split audiences, however, with Johnson having to fend off backlash over some plot elements.
Star Wars 8: The Last Jedi is out now.