‘Star Wars: Starfighter’ Writer Says the Film Is Deliberately Skipping Decades of Franchise Baggage

Building a new ‘Star Wars‘ story in 2026 comes with a unique challenge that didn’t exist in the franchise’s earlier decades. Nearly fifty years of mythology now sit behind every new film, and figuring out how much of that history a new story actually needs to carry has become its own creative puzzle.

Ryan Gosling’s upcoming entry into the galaxy far, far away has been positioning itself as a different kind of ‘Star Wars’ story from the start, one set far removed from the saga most fans know by heart. Details about the project have trickled out slowly since it was first announced, leaving fans to piece together what exactly makes this one different.

Now screenwriter Jonathan Tropper has confirmed just how intentional that separation really is. Speaking on Deadline’s Crew Call podcast, Tropper described ‘Star Wars: Starfighter’ as a story built specifically to exist outside the weight of the franchise’s central saga. “This isn’t a Skywalker saga movie,” Tropper said. “We’re not dealing with the history of the Rebellion, the First Order, the Resistance or the Empire; we’re kind of beyond all that. It’s a simpler movie.”

Tropper elaborated on the thinking behind that approach, explaining that he and director Shawn Levy wanted the film to feel accessible without requiring deep franchise knowledge. “What we wanted to do was to tell a story that was free of Star Wars mythology,” he explained. “We were out ahead in the timeline, and we wanted something with as few barriers of entry as possible for new fans and viewers.”

That timeline places the film roughly five years after the events of ‘Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker,’ putting it beyond the conclusion of the Skywalker saga entirely. Rather than tying into any of the franchise’s established political factions, the story follows Kade Auberon, a cynical rogue played by Gosling who gets pulled into a dangerous adventure after his mysterious past catches up with him.

Joining Gosling is young actor Flynn Gray, who plays a character traveling alongside Kade throughout the story. The film also brings in Matt Smith and Mia Goth, both reportedly cast in villainous roles, along with Aaron Pierre, Simon Bird, Jamael Westman, Daniel Ings, and Amy Adams rounding out the ensemble.

At the center of it all sits the G17 Imperial Reaper, described as the fastest starship ever built and, notably, already parked in Kade’s garage when the story begins. That detail alone suggests a more personal, grounded entry point into the world than fans might expect from a franchise typically defined by galaxy-spanning conflicts.

Tropper’s connection to this project traces back through his long working relationship with Levy, having previously written three films for the director, including ‘This Is Where I Leave You,’ ‘Kodachrome,’ and ‘The Adam Project.’ That existing shorthand between the two apparently played a role in landing Tropper the gig in the first place.

Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy is producing alongside Levy, with the film currently set for a May 28, 2027 release, arriving just three weeks after ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ hits Disney’s release calendar that same year.

Not everyone has embraced Tropper’s description of the film so far. Since the comments began circulating, fans have split over what “simpler” actually means for a franchise built on decades of dense lore, with some praising the clean-slate approach and others skeptical that it might undersell the story’s ambitions.

Whether that simplicity ends up being the film’s biggest strength or its most divisive quality likely won’t be clear until ‘Star Wars: Starfighter’ actually reaches theaters. For now, Tropper’s comments have at least made one thing certain: this is a very different kind of ‘Star Wars’ story than fans have seen before.

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