1

It occurred to me that Captain Phasma in The Force Awakens is the first time we see a female Stormtrooper in any of the main films.

The original Republic (and later Empire) clone-troopers are all clones of Jango Fett, and therefore male.

During the time of Palpatine's Empire (roughly, between the end of Episode III to the end of VI), were women permitted to become Imperial Stormtroopers? Did any actually do so?

Robert Columbia
  • 18,885
  • 9
  • 74
  • 149
  • several in the new canon book series. Also technically speaking First Order Trooper != Imperial Stormtrooper – NKCampbell Dec 13 '17 at 15:39
  • @NKCampbell I know that First Order troopers are not the same as Imperial Stormtroopers - that's why I phrased the question as "...become Imperial Stormtroopers" - because we already know that women are permitted to serve as Stormtroopers in the First Order. – Robert Columbia Dec 13 '17 at 15:40
  • 2
    How do you tell the gender with all the white space plastic? – Raditz_35 Dec 13 '17 at 15:44
  • @Raditz_35 there are other ways. Someone could refer to a Stormtrooper as "she", a character could remove her helmet (for whatever reason), a Stormtrooper could be put on leave due to pregnancy.... – Robert Columbia Dec 13 '17 at 15:46
  • but, you specifically called Phasma a stormtrooper so... – NKCampbell Dec 13 '17 at 15:52
  • Yes, and shown explicitly in more recent canon sources. In an episode of Rebels, Ezra, Sabine, and Saw Gerrera board an Imperial freighter transporting a giant kyber crystal--unknown to them, being taken to the under-construction Death Star--and run into a force of Death Troopers that's commanded by a woman, DT-F16, who manages to be the last survivor of the unit. This is revealed only by her voice (in this case, provided by the go-to voice artist for the female badass, Jennifer Hale). – Keith Morrison Dec 13 '17 at 16:00
  • ANSWER: Yes, they were. A couple is mentioned in Rogue One novelization: JN-093, TK-4012. Also, there's at least one in the game Battlefront: SP-475 / Thara Nyende. In Legends, we can also find some female stormtroopers: TD-4388 / Isila Drutch, TD-1123, TD-5144, HX-138. You can check them all out in Wookieepedia. – Essen Dec 14 '17 at 06:57

1 Answers1

1

The Star Wars Wikia cites The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film as stating that the answer is that, yes, there were female stormtroopers.

George Lucas, when composing background information for licensees in 1977, stated that females did exist in the Stormtrooper Corps, although there were few stationed on the Death Star. He suggested that they were numerous in other units.

Buzz
  • 97,359
  • 18
  • 292
  • 479