Everything we know about Ryan Gosling’s Star Wars: Starfighter

Makers screened the first footage from Star Wars: Starfighter for a packed house at Disney's D23 Expo. Star Ryan Gosling and director Shawn Levy took the stage together to introduce the clip, and the reaction in the room made it clear this isn't just another franchise sequel.

Ryan Gosling's Star Wars: Starfighter gets first footage

Unlike nearly every live-action Star Wars film before it, Starfighter isn't tied to the Skywalker family saga. Lucasfilm has described the project as an entirely original story set in a period of the timeline that's never been explored on screen, landing roughly five years after the events of 2019's The Rise of Skywalker. Screenwriter Jonathan Tropper, who has been developing the project with Shawn since 2022, penned the script.

The scene previewed at D23 introduces Ryan’s character, a pilot named Kade Auberon, catching a local kid — played by newcomer Flynn Gray — poking around a battered, decommissioned Imperial starfighter in a dusty garage. Kade warns the boy off it, calling the ship the fastest ever built; the kid shoots back that he's never heard of it. "There's a reason for that," Kade replies, hinting at a piece of galactic history the film seems poised to unpack.

Ryan and Flynn are joined by a stacked ensemble: Matt Smith and Mia Goth are believed to be playing the film’s villains, alongside Aaron Pierre, Simon Bird, Jamael Westman, Daniel Ings, and Amy Adams. Behind the camera, Levy — fresh off directing the billion-dollar hit Deadpool & Wolverine — produces alongside Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy.

Star Wars: Starfighter opens in theatres on May 28, 2027, arriving about a year after The Mandalorian & Grogu, which marked the franchise’s return to theatres this past summer after a seven-year absence but posted a comparatively soft box office run. That leaves Starfighter carrying real weight for Lucasfilm heading into 2027 — an original story, an A-list leading man in Ryan Gosling, and a director with recent blockbuster pedigree, all tasked with proving the galaxy far, far away still has new corners left to explore.

Ryan and Shawn aren't done after this either: the pair are already set to reunite for Marvel's Ghost Rider, due out in 2028.

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