Actor Ryan Gosling and director Shawn Levy are hoping to win fans over with their new “Star Wars” film, appropriately titled “Star Wars: Starfighter.” Many fans were disappointed with 2019’s “The Rise of Skywalker,” which many felt was a disappointing end to the Skywalker Saga. The 2026 film, “The Mandalorian and Grogu,” failed to meet expectations at the box office and became the lowest-grossing live-action “Star Wars” film in history. However, Disney seems hopeful it has a hit on its hands with “Star Wars: Starfighter,” set to hit theaters in May 2027.
Fans were delighted to finally get more insight into “Star Wars: Starfighter” at the Disney D23 event on Friday. According to the official Star Wars website, Ryan Gosling’s character will be called Kade Auberon. As he took the stage, he wore a new jacket featuring an inverted symbol on the back.
“Kade is a guy from the wrong side of the galaxy, whose fate is intertwined with the fastest starfighter ever built,” Gosling said before giving fans a first look at his character in a trailer that has not been shown to the public.
According to those who saw it, the teaser opens with Flynn Gray’s character opening a garage door and pulling a tarp off a starfighter. Kade immediately chastises the boy for touching the starfighter when he asked him not to. He explains that the ship is a decommissioned G-17 Imperial ship, the fastest ever built. When the kid says he’s never heard of it, Kade tells him that there’s a reason for that.
The teaser then jumps into a series of quick shots that show the speeder flying across several planets and different action sequences. A speeder flies over a beach, a skiff speeder parasails over an oceanic alien world, a droid takes off in a large ship as soldiers try to blast it down, and a mechanical bridge retracts as one person tries to leap to get to another. The last shots show the full starfighter as the title comes into frame.
Shawn Levy Says The Film Is ‘Firmly Rooted In Character’
According to the Star Wars website: “In Starfighter, when a cynical rogue is confronted by his mysterious past, he is hurled into a dangerous adventure across the galaxy that puts him on a crash course with destiny.”
Director Shawn Levy told the crowd, “I am so honored to release this film on the same weekend that the original film opened 50 years earlier,” adding, “Starfighter embodies the themes of hope, family and adventure that have always been core to Star Wars, but our story takes place in a period of time that has never been seen before which has been a privilege to create and explore.”
Levy went on to say: “This Star Wars story is firmly rooted in character, brought to life by these amazing actors and all within an adventure that’s filled with humor, danger, spectacle and the joyous spirit that has been the beating heart of this 50-year legacy that we all love so much.”
In addition to Gosling, the film also stars Flynn Gray, Matt Smith, Mia Goth, Aaron Pierre, Simon Bird, Jamael Westman, Daniel Ings, and Amy Adams.
Although “Starfighter” takes place years after the events of 2019’s “The Rise of Skywalker,” it is said to be a standalone adventure that is not connected to the Skywalker Saga. It will be released in theaters on May 28, 2027.
Ryan Gosling Is Joining The Marvel Cinematic Universe As Ghost Rider
As The Blast previously reported, the “Barbie” star will be joining the MCU as Ghost Rider. The news was announced late last month during a San Diego Comic-Con panel. “As you know, this is a character I’ve wanted to play for a long time,” Gosling told the crowd.
The role has a surprising connection to his longtime partner, Eva Mendes. Although Nicolas Cage last portrayed Ghost Rider in the 2007 film, it also featured Gosling’s longtime partner, Mendes, as Roxanne Simpson. Although Cage reprised his role in the 2011 sequel, Mendes did not.
More surprisingly, Shawn Levy will reunite with Ryan Gosling to direct the new Ghost Rider film. This has many “Star Wars” fans hopeful that the new movie will be a success, as this will be the second collaboration between the pair following “Starfighter.”
Another ‘Star Wars’ Actor Is Joining The MCU
At Disney’s D23 event, actor Adam Driver, who is best known for playing the role of Kylo Ren/Ben Solo in all three movies in the “Star Wars” sequel trilogy, revealed that he will be joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Mister Sinister.
He joked that he would play Magneto, but later reports indicated he would play Mister Sinister. Many fans had a feeling that Driver’s casting would be announced soon, as Marvel boss Kevin Feige had recently appeared on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast with Josh Horowitz to joke about the actor’s “tradition” of turning down Marvel roles.
Although he did not disclose which roles the actor turned down, Driver told fans at D23 that “Kevin and I have been talking for years about maybe joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And I think we finally found the perfect film at the perfect time with characters that I care very deeply about.”
Marvel announced that the latest “X-Men” film will be released on May 5, 2028, approximately one year after “Star Wars: Starfighter.”
