— Ch. 1 · Director And Development History —
Star Wars: Starfighter.
~5 min read · Ch. 1 of 5
Shawn Levy flew to London in the mid-2010s specifically to meet with Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy. He expressed his love for the Star Wars franchise and his wish to make a Star Wars film during that meeting. The pair began discussing a potential project, but this was put on hold when Levy became busy with the television series Stranger Things (2016, 2025). Levy was contacted by Kennedy in 2022 and entered talks to develop and direct a new Star Wars film that November. He publicly confirmed the deal a month later. Many filmmakers had been announced as developing Star Wars films that did not come to fruition in recent years. Levy acknowledged this history but remained confident his film would succeed. He planned to begin writing after he finished directing the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) for Marvel Studios. Development was just beginning when the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike began in May 2023. That strike halted further progress until October 2023. After the strike ended, Levy said development had begun again. Dave Filoni revealed in the following month that he was now chief creative officer at Lucasfilm. Filoni served as executive producer on various Star Wars television series before taking this role. He would be directly involved in the planning of future films and series.
Casting Announcements And Choices
At Star Wars Celebration Japan in April 2025, the film received its title Star Wars: Starfighter. This name matches an unrelated 2001 video game. The event also gave a release date of the 28th of May 2027. Gosling was confirmed to be starring during this announcement. Casting was underway for a teenage actor to portray the nephew of Gosling's character. Mikey Madison was in brief negotiations for the female antagonist role. She declined an offer by mid-April due to a salary dispute. Mia Goth was cast in that role in June. Matt Smith joined Starfighter as another antagonist in August. Smith had been cast in an undisclosed role for The Rise of Skywalker but ultimately did not appear in that film. Levy later acknowledged reports of Smith's initial casting and said it felt like destiny fulfilled for the actor to join the franchise. With the start of filming at the end of August, Lucasfilm announced the casting of newcomer Flynn Gray alongside Aaron Pierre, Simon Bird, Jamael Westman, Daniel Ings, and Amy Adams. Gray was cast as the nephew of Gosling's character. Adams was cast as the mother of Gray's character.