Gwendoline Christie will be in Star Wars: Episode VIII, may actually do something this time

When the first images and teasers for The Force Awakens came out, one of the biggest mysteries was Captain Phasma, the cape-wearing Stormtrooper in ridiculous chrome armor played by Game Of Thrones’ Gwendoline Christie. Surely, someone who stands out that much on a battlefield would have to be the greatest badass in the history of the universe, so the question was less about whether or not Captain Phasma would turn out to be a cool character and more about just how cool she would be. Unfortunately, Captain Phasma turned out to be another one of The Force Awakens’ many throwbacks to the original trilogy, in that she was a character who looked totally awesome but didn’t actually do anything awesome. (See also: Any of the bounty hunters from The Empire Strikes Back.)

Thankfully, though, we haven’t seen the last of Captain Phasma. According to Variety, Christie has confirmed that she will be returning for Episode VIII, which means she might get an opportunity to actually do something other than look cool this time. As the legend goes, Christie was only cast a few weeks before shooting began on The Force Awakens (and the part was originally written for a man), so the fact that she didn’t do anything was probably more about the wheels of the project already being in motion than anything else. Hopefully that means the production will have the time and sense to make her more than really awesome set decoration for the next movie.