Star Wars: Starfighter Star Says It Was "Worth Waiting For"

Posted in: Lucasfilm, Movies | Tagged: Star Wars: Starfighter Star Says It Was "Worth Waiting For"Star Wars: Starfighter star Ryan Gosling says that it was director Shawn Levy's "enthusiasm and his vision and the script" that made him want to sign on.Published Sat, 28 Feb 2026 08:47:06 -0600 by Kaitlyn Booth | CommentsArticle Summary Ryan Gosling says director Shawn Levy’s passion and script convinced him to join Star Wars: Starfighter Star Wars: Starfighter was officially announced at Celebration 2025 with Gosling confirmed as lead The film is a standalone adventure set five years after The Rise of Skywalker with all-new characters Production begins fall 2025 for a May 28, 2027 release date, generating buzz among Star Wars fans The current state of Star Wars on the big screen is weird as hell. The Mandalorian and Grogu will be here before we know it, but at the same time, it seems like no one is that excited for that movie to come out. If anything, people seem way more into Star Wars: Starfighter, which won't be released until 2027. At the moment, we still don't have much information about it, but the little that we do know sounds extremely promising. We knew things were starting to sound good when word came down that Ryan Gosling was gearing up to star. Gosling making the jump into a galaxy far, far away was surprising considering how few large franchises he's been in, as io9 pointed out in a new interview for Project Hail Mary, so they asked what made Star Wars: Starfighter the exception. "It was Shawn's enthusiasm and his vision and the script," Gosling told io9. "And I just avoided these things because they never felt right. And I'm glad I did because I feel like, [similar to] a book like this, [it was] worth waiting for. And it is like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity." July 12, 2023: Ryan Gosling attends the "Barbie" European Premiere at Cineworld Leicester Square in London, England. Editorial credit: Fred Duval / Shutterstock.com Star Wars: Starfighter logo from Star Wars Celebration 2025, Courtesy Disney. (L-R) Ryan Gosling and Flynn Gray on the set of LUCASFILM'S STAR WARS: STARFIGHTER. Photo by Ed Miller. © 2025 & TM Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC. All rights reserved. Photo by Ed Miller /Lucasfilm Ltd. When you've been in the business as long as Gosling has, a good script from a director with a lot of passion behind the project makes all the difference in the world. One can assume that's the reason he signed on to Barbie and why he jumped on Star Wars: Starfighter. Star Wars: Starfighter Went From 0-100 At Lightspeed The Mandalorian & Grogu will be the official return to a galaxy far, far away on the big screen, but reports about a film from Shawn Levy began in November 2022. Everyone thought that the film seemed like one that wouldn't get much traction for a while since Levy had other projects to work on, but then Ryan Gosling got involved. His [potential at the time] involvement following the massive success of the Barbie meant that Levy's project went from "eventually" to "right now." That involvement was first teased back in January 2025, but no one confirmed anything, and it seemed they were waiting until Celebration in April 2025, which isn't a surprise. On the stage in front of a bunch of hopefully not-too-jetlagged fans, it was announced that Levy's project would be titled Star Wars: Starfighter. They also confirmed that Gosling had been cast and that the film had been given a prime-time release date of May 28, 2027. In a press release sent out by Disney, we also got some very vague story details. The release described the film as "a standalone adventure taking place approximately five years after the events of 2019's Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker. … [Star Wars: Starfighter] is an entirely new adventure featuring all-new characters set in a period of time that has not been explored on screen yet." The release also confirmed that production will begin in fall 2025, which makes sense for a May 2027 release date and how much post-production a massive film like this needs. It was reported that Mia Goth had joined the cast in early June. In early August, it was reported that Matt Smith had joined the cast. Star Wars: Starfighter stars Ryan Gosling, Flynn Gray, Matt Smith, Mia Goth, Aaron Pierre, Simon Bird, Jamael Westman, Daniel Ings, and Amy Adams. It is directed by Shawn Levy and produced by Levy and Kathleen Kennedy. The executive producers are Ryan Gosling, Dan Levine, Mary McLaglen, and Josh McLaglen. The script is by Jonathan Tropper. Enjoyed this? Please share on social media! Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today! About Kaitlyn BoothKaitlyn is the Editor-in-Chief at Bleeding Cool. Film critic and pop culture writer since 2013. Ace. Leftist. Nerd. Feminist. Writer. Replicant Translator. Cinephillic Virtue Signaler. She/Her. 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