Ryan Gosling is heading to a galaxy far, far away for Star Wars: Starfighter, though he may not be joined by any familiar faces.
The upcoming film, helmed by Deadpool & Wolverine‘s Shawn Levy, has largely been wrapped in mystery, with its plot still unknown, save for it being said to take place a few years after the events of sequel trilogy ender Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Kicking off production in August 2025, Levy assembled a massive ensemble cast around Gosling, including Doctor Who‘s Matt Smith, MaXXXine‘s Mia Goth, Lanterns‘ Aaron Pierre and six-time Oscar nominee Amy Adams, among others.
Now, in an interview with ScreenRant‘s Liam Crowley for his Prime Video action comedy The Wrecking Crew, Jonathan Tropper offered some insight into what’s to come from Star Wars: Starfighter. The writer first turned to the recent reveal that Tom Cruise visited the set and helped design a lightsaber fight in the film, expressing being “so bummed that I missed him” as he left the set three days prior to Cruise’s arrival, which Tropper “couldn’t believe I missed.”
Expanding on lightsabers being included in the film and evolving the franchise in a new direction, Tropper went on to share that his and Levy’s goal was to “tell a completely new story” with Star Wars: Starfighter. Looking at the wider connections to the series, he stated that they “weren’t bound by any structures of the past movies,” and as such were able to avoid having to include too many familiar elements, namely returning characters:
Jonathan Tropper: Obviously, lightsabers are a part of that universe and that part of that galaxy. I’m so careful not to reveal anything, but essentially, I think it’s known that we have no legacy characters. You’re not going to see any of the characters you’ve seen in the other movies. So there are certain things that are still hallmarks of Star Wars that it’s good to have in there. But more than that, I can’t say.
Throughout the movie’s development and production, Levy and exiting Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy frequently indicated that Star Wars: Starfighter would be a standalone story in the franchise. However, that hasn’t stopped both rumors and reports of legacy characters returning for the film, namely that Daisy Ridley’s Rey would appear in the film in some capacity, with Kennedy having even mentioned the possibility for sequel trilogy characters to return in the film.
This would have made sense for a variety of reasons. For starters, setting Starfighter just a few years after The Rise of Skywalker‘s ending would likely put Gosling’s character and others in the path of the sequel trilogy characters as they try to restore a semblance of order to the universe. More importantly, a Rey-focused Star Wars movie has been in the works for a few years, with it said to be set 15 years after the 2019 sequel trilogy installment, therefore giving Starfighter the opportunity to set the movie up.
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With Tropper now confirming that Star Wars: Starfighter will essentially be a true standalone story in the franchise, the film is certainly on track to be the most unique title in a while. Even as it’s grown on Disney+ with The Mandalorian and its various spinoffs, they’ve all still featured a variety of legacy characters making appearances to tie things to the wider universe, particularly Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker and Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka Tano. However, given Star Wars‘ last theatrical attempt at an anthology route was the financial disaster Solo, it will be interesting to see if longtime fans of the series embrace or reject Gosling’s film.
- Release Date
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May 28, 2027
- Director
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Shawn Levy
