Unveiled with great fanfare at a jam-packed panel during the Star Wars Celebration in Tokyo, Japan—a biennial convention celebrating the myriad wonders of Jedis, Siths, and other galactic marvels from afar—the highly anticipated Star Wars feature, helmed by director Shawn Levy and starring Ryan Gosling, has finally been bestowed with a title and a release date. Enter Star Wars: Starfighter, slated to soar onto the silver screen on May 28, 2027, mere weeks after the Disney behemoth Avengers: Secret Wars, which will premiere on May 7, 2027.
During the announcement, Gosling, standing on stage, extolled the virtues of the screenplay, stating, "The truth is, this script is nothing short of extraordinary. It weaves a captivating tale populated by delightful and originality-brimming characters. It pulses with heart and adventure, and Shawn is undeniably the perfect filmmaker to bring this specific narrative to life."
To further endear the audience, a nostalgic snapshot flashed across the screen, revealing Gosling's childhood Star Wars bedsheets, thoughtfully submitted by his doting mother. "She still treasures them, evidently," Gosling quipped. "She thoughtfully believed that our fans might cherish this glimpse into my past, but I suspect she merely sought validation for her years of hoarding. As the image reveals, I was perhaps dreaming of Star Wars even before I laid eyes on the film. It's quite possible that those bedsheets shaped my very conception of what cinema truly is."
Levy, who has been meticulously crafting this Star Wars adventure since 2022, collaborated with Jonathan Tropper—a screenwriter who has previously worked with Levy on films like This Is Where I Leave You and The Adam Project—to pen the screenplay. Though extracting plot specifics from this duo would likely require the prowess of an IT-O interrogation droid, whispers in Hollywood casting circles suggest that the film has been gaining momentum in recent weeks. While numerous names have been floated around only to fizzle out, there appears to be an active search for a teenage actor to star opposite Gosling's enigmatic character, as well as for male and female villains.
Starfighter stands as a standalone film, untethered to the storied Skywalker Saga—the narratives centered around the beloved characters Luke Skywalker and his father, Anakin. Instead, it ventures into uncharted territories, set approximately five years after the events of 2019's Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. "This is a standalone endeavor. Neither a prequel nor a sequel, but a fresh adventure. It's set in an era we haven't explored yet," Levy clarified, noting that production will commence this fall.
The Levy-Gosling project has garnered immense anticipation, marking only the second feature film since the release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in 2019—a film whose reception threw the Star Wars cinematic universe into disarray. Meanwhile, the first film since Rise of Skywalker, titled The Mandalorian and Grogu, a movie spinoff based on the beloved Disney+ series The Mandalorian, is currently in post-production and set for release on May 22, 2026.
