The official announcement that Ryan Gosling was on board to lead Shawn Levy‘s Star Wars: Starfighter rightfully stole the show at Star Wars Celebration Japan. As A-list as it gets, Gosling‘s casting is a bit of an oddity for a franchise that looks to create stars, not cast them, so the repoers of Lucasfilm targeting him caught fans off guard and with so many projects going by the wayside, it seemed possible–even likely–that Levy’s film may never get made. With production set to kick off thos fall ahead of a May 28, 2027 release, it seems Starfighter is indeed happening and it won’t be alone.
As part of an official release via StarWars.com, Lucasfilm has confirmed that sic additional theatrical projects remain in active development at the studio.
One of several theatrical projects still in development from Lucasfilm, including films by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, James Mangold, Taika Waititi and a new trilogy by Simon Kinberg, Levy’s film — Star Wars: Starfighter — will star Gosling and go into production starting this fall.
First announced at Star Wars Celebration Europe in 2023, the Daisy Ridley-led New Jedi Order era film set to be directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy was once expected to launch Star Wars back into theaters before experiencing some difficulties getting off the ground and being pulled from the release schedule. In January, The Bourne Ultimatum and The Banker scribe George Nolfi became the film’s third known lead writer and there’s been no news since, making the film’s inclusion in the official release a surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one.
Like the Obaid-Chinoy film, director James Mangold‘s Dawn of the Jedi era/Jedi Prime project was first announced at Star Wars Celebration Europe. Referred to as “Star Wars Zero” by Mangold, the project will be set in “the deep past, telling the tale of the first Jedi to wield the Force and harness it as a liberating power in an era of chaos and oppression.” It’s been over a year since it was revealed that Andor co-writer Beau Willimon had come on board to co-write the film, which fans had begun to fear had made its way down the chute and into the trash compactor.
Taika is on Taika time. I’ve just continually said to him, look, when you feel that you’re ready and you can really devote the time, we’re going to do it. We’ll be waiting. I’m just hoping we get there. That will be a great Star Wars movie.
–Kathleen Kennedy on the status of Taika Waititi’s Star Wars film
While nothing official has been revealed about the project, a Star Wars film written and directed by Taika Waititi has been in development since May of 2020. The film was originally expected to begin production in 2023 but was pushed back as Waititi continued to work on other projects such as Thor: Love and Thunder and Klara and the Sun. Star Wars boss Kathleen Kennedy also revealed that Poor Things scribe Tony McNamara is working on the script for the film she says will ultimately be “a great Star Wars movie.”
We’re absolutely rolling fast and furiously. That has gone exceptionally well, and he’s literally going to script as we speak. We’ll see something probably around June. Simon, if you remember, he did some work with us years ago with the animated show, which was a really wonderful collaborative experience. And he then got very, very busy with X-Men and then recently became available again, and he segued into this space beautifully. We’re really excited about where that’s headed.
-Kathleen Kennedy on Simon Kinberg’s Star Wars Saga trilogy
Finally, the press release confirmed that work remains ongoing on the trilogy in the works from Star Wars Rebels co-creator Simon Kinberg. In February 2024, Kennedy explained that the new trilogy would be “the next iteration, the new saga that moves us into the future” of the Star Wars franchise.
Source: Deadline, Screen Rant, StarWars.com
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