Star Wars: Starfighter

• 1. Star Wars: Starfighter

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  Star Wars: Starfighter had Tom Cruise operating a camera for a lightsaber duel during production. That scene was staged in a boggy marsh. For its director, Shawn Levy, the franchise carries a weight he has described as 'nothing is as religious an allegiance as Star Wars.' Written by Jonathan Tropper and starring Ryan Gosling, the film is set roughly five years after The Rise of Skywalker. Lucasfilm and 21 Laps Entertainment are producing it, with Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures distributing it. A release date of the 28th of May 2027 is set for the United States. What makes Starfighter unusual is its aim to introduce an almost entirely new set of characters, in a part of the galaxy that has never appeared on screen. Getting to that point required nearly a decade of work. It began with Levy flying to London in the mid-2010s to meet Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy.

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• 2. A Decade in the Making

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  Shawn Levy first approached Kathleen Kennedy in the mid-2010s. He flew to London specifically to express his love for Star Wars and his desire to make a film within the franchise. Kennedy heard him out, and early discussions began. They were then put on hold. Stranger Things, the television series Levy had been developing, launched in 2016 and ran until 2025. It absorbed much of his time and attention.

  Kennedy reached back out in 2022. Levy entered formal talks that November to develop and direct a new Star Wars film. He confirmed the deal a month later. He acknowledged publicly that other filmmakers had announced Star Wars projects that never reached production. He said he was confident his situation was different. Much of that confidence came from Deadpool & Wolverine, the Marvel Studios film he had just directed. That project had shown him that a personal film could succeed inside a giant franchise.

  When the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike began in May 2023, work stopped. After the strike ended, Levy confirmed that development had resumed. Kennedy's directive was to bring the same story and tone from his earlier work into the Star Wars universe.

  Jonathan Tropper was hired to write the screenplay in July 2024. Tropper and Levy had worked together before. Journalist Jeff Sneider reported in December 2024 that Levy was holding a window for production to begin in September 2025. That timeline would shift. Ryan Gosling entered talks for the lead role in January 2025. His interest meant the project could advance ahead of other films Levy had been planning. Reports at the time described Levy as a 'must-have, must-keep director' for Walt Disney Company, the parent of both Lucasfilm and Marvel Studios.

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• 3. Inventing a Galaxy

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  At Star Wars Celebration Japan in April 2025, Levy gave the clearest public description of what he was building. The film, he said, was 'not a sequel, it's not a prequel, it's not legacy characters.' The production had no established visual template to draw from for this period in the franchise's history. Levy laid out the scope of decisions facing his team, from planet and costume choices to droids and alien designs. All of it, he said, needed to 'feel Star Wars-y.' Levy said this pressure was unlike anything he had experienced before, including the scale of Stranger Things and Deadpool & Wolverine.

  The Star Wars film that most directly shaped his instincts for Starfighter was Return of the Jedi, released in 1983. He described its appeal as 'the combination of theme, levity, adventure, heart, spectacle.' He added: 'somehow that movie just got it right for me.' Return of the Jedi was not a template to imitate, but a reference for the balance of tone.

  Kathleen Kennedy described Starfighter as a standalone project with no intention of launching sequels. She said it would feature mostly new characters, though some from the sequel trilogy could return.

  Suttirat Anne Larlarb took on the costume design, having previously worked on the Star Wars series Obi-Wan Kenobi. Her job was to give visual form to a cast of characters no one had ever seen before.

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• 4. Assembling the Cast

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  Matt Smith joined Starfighter as one of the film's two antagonists. He arrived at the project with a history in the franchise that had never been made public. Smith had originally been cast in an undisclosed role for The Rise of Skywalker but did not appear in that film. Levy acknowledged those earlier reports and said the situation 'feels like it's destiny fulfilled' for Smith. His August casting completed the antagonist pair.

  Mikey Madison entered brief negotiations to play the film's female villain, but she declined an offer by mid-April 2025 over a salary dispute. Mia Goth was cast in that role by June.

  Flynn Gray, a newcomer, was cast as the teenage nephew of Ryan Gosling's character. Amy Adams joined as the mother of Gray's character. The remainder of the cast announced at the start of filming included Aaron Pierre, Simon Bird, Jamael Westman, and Daniel Ings. Lucasfilm made all confirmed castings official when principal photography began.

  Kathleen Kennedy spoke candidly about the challenge of anchoring a significant portion of the film on an inexperienced young actor. She said the structure of the story placed Gray 'one-on-one' with a different major actor every few weeks. Kennedy called the arrangement 'the best university' for a performer starting out. She said the production had gotten lucky with his casting. Journalist Jeff Sneider had also reported that Daisy Ridley was expected to reprise her role as Rey in a mentorship capacity, though that casting was not confirmed when Lucasfilm made its official announcements.

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• 5. On Location

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  Principal photography began on the 28th of August 2025, in the United Kingdom. Claudio Miranda served as the cinematographer. By mid-September, filming had relocated to Sardinia, Italy. Levy released an image of the crew shooting on the Mediterranean Sea. In early November, Levy took a brief break from production to promote the fifth season of Stranger Things. By that point, filming was more than halfway complete.

  Late in November, Levy said publicly that a section of the third act had not come together as planned. He described a moment where 'things didn't align' and his original intentions could not be executed as written. He was filming a new version of that sequence at the time. He said he was glad the original idea had not worked out, believing the replacement was considerably better.

  Steven Spielberg visited the set during production. Matt Smith completed his scenes in December. Adam Gerstel was brought on as the film's editor, having previously cut the second season of The Mandalorian in 2020. Levy announced on December 18 that principal photography had wrapped. The film would now move through over a year of post-production before its May 2027 release, with editing and score composition under way.

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• 6. The Score

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  Thomas Newman, whose previous credits included some of Shawn Levy's favorite film scores, was chosen to compose the music for Starfighter. Levy revealed the appointment in November 2025. The director's brief was specific: he wanted music that was 'big-hearted' and 'classically inspired,' with multiple themes woven through the story. John Williams's approach to the main Star Wars films served as a reference point. But Levy was clear that he did not want a 'remix' of Williams's work. He was after something built on similar principles, not assembled from existing material.

  Newman agreed to the project after reading the script and hearing Levy describe his vision. He was already at work when production ended, composing toward a score that audiences will hear on the 28th of May 2027.

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