Lucasfilm has announced the title of director Shawn Levy’s Star Wars film: it’s Starfighter, starring Ryan Gosling.
The previously-teased Ryan Gosling Lucasverse movie, directed by Shawn Levy, now has an official title – Star Wars: Starfighter. The announcement was made at this year’s Star Wars Celebration, currently taking place in Tokyo. It’s said that production is set to begin this autumn, with its cinema release set for May 2027 – one year after Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian And Grogu is due to arrive in 2026.
Reports that Ryan Gosling was in talks to star in a Star Wars film first began to circulate in January, when it was revealed that Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy had spoken to Shawn Levy, the director of The Adam Project and Deadpool & Wolverine, and said, “I want a Shawn Levy movie.” It sounds as though that’s exactly what we’ll be getting.
Star Wars: Starfighter will be written by Jonathan Tropper, who previously collaborated with Levy on This Is Where I Leave You and aforementioned Adam Project. Plot details are currently unknown, though the title suggests we’re in for some sort of ‘Top Gun in space’ movie about pilots; all that’s been confirmed to date is the setting – it’ll take place after the events of Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise Of Skywalker.
This leaves a lingering question: does this mean Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins’ Rogue Squadron, which has a strikingly similar theme, has been scrapped? Or will Starfighter be less Top Gun-ish than its title implies? We’ll have to wait for further news on that score.
Appearing via a live feed, Gosling said to the audience during the announcement (via Variety):
“Being here and seeing all of you [makes it] more inspiring to do it. There’s so much creativity and imagination in this room and there’s so much love. It’s such a great reminder of how much movies can mean to us, specifically how much these movies mean to us,” Gosling told the screaming audience at the end of the presentation. “The force is a mysterious thing, but, as I’m here, the force is the fans. All we can hope for is, ‘May the fans be with us.'”
After years of uncertainty and false starts on the film front, Lucasfilm seems to have finally found its feet. Attendees at Star Wars Celebration have also been shown a trailer for next year’s Mandalorian And Grogu – which has already leaked online. From what we can gather, it looks thoroughly action-packed and charming. We haven’t seen it ourselves, though, obviously.
Star Wars: Starfighter, starring Ryan Gosling and possibly other stars, is due for release on the 28th May 2027.
