A new comic set at the end of Star Wars: The Force Awakens will reveal how Captain Phasma escaped the destruction of Starkiller Base. Now that Star Wars has returned to theaters, filmmakers are doing their best to honor the original films while still drawing in a new audience. One of the ways they do that is to include a number of easter eggs and references to the previous films and animated series. A familiar droid or vehicle from the past popping up in Rouge One: A Star Wars Story, or a character hitherto only seen or heard of in the animated series The Clone Wars.
But one of the easiest to spot references is Finn's revenge on Captain Phasma at the end of The Force Awakens; after making her drop the shields around the Starkiller Base, he, Han, and Chewbacca forced the Captain into a trash compactor - mirroring the escape Han, Luke, and Leia made when they were trying to escape the Death Star. That was the last time Phasma was seen, and not long after that moment the base was destroyed. Despite that, Captain Phasma's return has been promised in Episode VIII, meaning that somehow she not only got out of the trash compactor alive but escaped the planet.
According to StarWars.com, the question of how Captain Phasma survived will not be explained in The Last Jedi, but her story will be told in a 4-issue comic book. The series - created by writer Kelly Thompson and artist Marco Checchetto - will release this September, with the first issue's cover using art created by Paul Renaud. Check it out below.
Captain Phasma is certainly not the only time a comic has been used to bridge the gaps between Star Wars films. One recent example was Shattered Empire - a prequel to The Force Awakens that filled in some of the blanks between Return of the Jedi and the new movies. There was also a single issue story about C-3PO that explained how he got his red arm. But this time the story isn't bridging two movies but rather showing an event concurrent to Episode VII: it explains what happened while Han was confronting his son.
Artist Checchetto discussed why he was interesting the project, saying "We have not seen much of Phasma, and I’m very excited to explore more of this character." He's not wrong; the first female villain in a Star Wars film got a lot of attention before the film was released, yet barely had more than two minutes of screen time and a grand total of 11 lines. She's set to have a bigger role in The Last Jedi, but hopefully this comic can also show why she's worthy of the hype.
Source: Star Wars
