Shawn Levy Teases “All-New Adventure” with ‘Star Wars: Starfighter’: “It’s New Characters, It’s a New Timeline”

Shawn Levy is gearing up to bring a fresh story to the Star Wars universe with Star Wars: Starfighter, an all-new adventure that is not a sequel, prequel, or spin-off.

The movie will hit theaters on May 28, 2027, and stars Ryan Gosling alongside Flynn Gray, Matt Smith, Mia Goth, Aaron Pierre, Simon Bird, Daniel Ings, and Amy Adams. Lucasfilm is producing the film with 21 Laps Entertainment, and Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures will handle distribution.

Levy first entered talks to direct the project in November 2022, though development was delayed by the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike.

Jonathan Tropper was brought on to write the script in July 2024. Gosling’s casting and the film’s title were revealed in April 2025, and the full cast was announced in August when filming began in the United Kingdom, with additional scenes shot in Sardinia, Italy.

During an interview with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, Levy shared his excitement about the project while promoting the final season of Stranger Things. “We’re really trying to sort of take that tone as a North Star every day. My crew, my DP, Claudio Miranda, Gosling is my kind of central collaborator in the lead role. It’s certainly been a dream come true. My 10-year-old self is on set with me every day.”

“In fact, he’s going to catch a flight tonight to go back to the set and keep shooting on Monday. But it’s a huge invigorating opportunity because Lucasfilm has been so encouraging of me doing something new. There’s no pressure to be derivative or limited by an obligation to what came before. There’s just a love of what came before.”

Levy also praised cinematographer Claudio Miranda, calling him “a huge gift to a Star Wars movie.” He added, “I’ll give you two things real quick, beyond his artistry, which is self-evident in everything from Life of Pi to Benjamin Button. Claudio is — I call him the Professor because he loves the nerdy figuring out of prep. He likes to design camera platforms that don’t exist. He likes to think about lenses and format in ways that are innovative.”

“And so the rigor of his innovative thinking is a huge gift to a Star Wars movie that wants to break some new ground visually and be a visceral kinetic ride, which is the other thing he brings. Claudio, in both Top Gun: Maverick and F1 showed this. His sense of how to put people in the action in a visceral way, not just in an observational way, but a subjective and participatory way, in that cockpit, in a driver’s seat. He does it like no one else does it, and I wanted that superpower for Starfighter.”

Set five years after The Rise of Skywalker, Starfighter is keeping plot details tightly under wraps. The film promises a mix of fast-paced action and immersive visuals, aiming to give fans something entirely new in the Star Wars saga.

With Levy at the helm and Gosling leading the cast, Star Wars: Starfighter looks set to deliver a fresh story while staying true to the spirit of the galaxy far, far away.

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