Production is underway on director Shawn Levy‘s Star Wars: Starfighter and while little has officially been revealed about the film outside of the main cast, there are plenty of reason for fans of the galaxy far, far away to get excited about the project, which is due in theaters in 2027.
Ryan Gosling was confirmed as the film’s star during Star Wars Celebration Japan, making good on months of rumors that the A-lister was set to join the franchise. Matt Smith, who joined the cast in August as “the next great villain in the Star Wars universe,”and Mia Goth, who was cast in June, are set to antagonize Gosling‘s character, who is rumored to be protecting his Force-sensitive nephew, played by Flynn Gray.
Billed as”an all-new standalone adventure,” Star Wars: Starfighter has been described as “an entirely original story set in a period of time never before explored in Star Wars.” Despite that description, there’s a growing belief online that Gosling‘s character will be tasked by Amy Adam‘s character with safely delivering his nephew to someone who can train him to use the Force and now a pair of new rumors have renewed hope that he’ll be delivered to a very familiar face.
According to My Time To Shine Hello, despite Lucasfilm’s designating Star Wars: Starfighter as a stand alone project, the film will include a “big cameo” and is meant to launch a new trilogy.
Given the rumors about the project, it’s easy to imagine that Gosling‘s mission in the film is to safely deliver his nephew to Rey Skywalker’s New Jedi Academy, which would allow Daisy Ridley to cameo, setting up a New Jedi Order trilogy.
After being announced at Star Wars Celebration 2023, Lucasfilm’s Daisy Ridley-led New Jedi Order era film seemed to quickly gather momentum, at one point being the favorite to launch the studio’s plans to bring its galaxy far, far away back to theaters. Set to “tell the story of rebuilding the New Jedi Order and the powers that rise to tear it down,” the Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy-directed project was reportedly far enough along that Lucasfilm considered a 2025 release. Things changed quickly, however, as creative teams came and went and by November 2024, the film’s release was delayed indefinitely despite reports that the studio believes Ridley is its “most valuable cinematic asset.” By mid-2025, the film was reportedly pushed even further down the queue, with Starfighter and James Mangold‘s Jedi Prime film being proritized.
Connecting the available dots, it begins to seem very reasonable that Starfighter might serve as a Rogue One-esque prequel to Ridley‘s trilogy, setting the stage for the New Jedi Order era. Of course, as Star Wars fans continue to grow increasingly frustrated with the franchise’s inability to bring ideas to fruition, nothing on that front will truly matter until production begins on Ridley’s project.
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