The Last Starfighter Sequel Could Still Happen, But There's One Big Challenge

"The Last Starfighter" firmly established itself as part of the canon of great '80s science-fiction and fantasy films upon its release in 1984. Directed by Nick Castle (who initially found fame playing Michael Meyers in John Carpenter's "Halloween" in 1978), it tells the tale of Alex Rogan (Lance Guest), a young high schooler from a trailer park who aces an arcade game and sets the high score. Little does he know, however, that this arcade game was really a test of his abilities as an actual starfighter, which leads to him being recruited into the Star League to fight against an intergalactic threat. 

When Alex realizes that he's been drafted into a real war, he declines his chance to be a hero and demands to be taken back to Earth. Fortunately, this turns out to be a good thing for the galaxy at large, as an enemy armada soon after launches an attack on the secret base of the Star League, killing the rest of its recruits and leaving Alex as the only one left alive. He thusly agrees to serve as the last starfighter, and the rest is history.

The film was revolutionary for its computer-generated effects, following in the footsteps of "Tron." At one point, Gene Siskel argued that it was the best of all the "Star Wars" imitators, and it's hard to disagree with that assessment. The film wasn't exactly a runaway hit at the box office (where it fell a little short of doubling its $15 million budget), but it soon became a bigger success thanks to the home video market. However, there was also a time where the movie all but vanished and became quite difficult to track down due to its production company, Lorimar, going defunct.

Eventually, Lorimar was absorbed by Warner Brothers, although the rights to the film are still extremely tangled. Indeed, with different entities each having pieces of the existing rights, that vastly complicates the chances of a sequel finally coming to pass.

Folks have been holding out hope for a "Last Starfighter" sequel for a long time. "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" co-writer Gary Whitta actually spent years trying to get one off the ground with in cooperation with the original film's writer, Jonathan R. Betuel. Unfortunately, the project appeared to be dead in the water in 2022, at which point Whitta took to Twitter/X to tell his followers the sequel will likely never happen (though not for a lack of trying). The short of it? He and Betuel had tried their best but just couldn't get the film out of development hell.

By all indications, that version of the sequel would have been called "The Last Starfighters" and seen Alex pass the torch to the next generation of starfighters and his progeny. Whether that project is officially dead or not is still a little up in the air, but we recently got an update on that front from Castle himself.

At the Indiana Comic Convention this past weekend, Castle was speaking at a spotlight panel (one where I happened to be the individual asking the questions) when the matter of a sequel or possibly even a reboot of "The Last Starfighter" came up. He was adamant, however, that he would not like to see the film rebooted. To be sure, there was something magical about the original. A reboot would only detract from that sensation.

With that out of the way, Castle went on to discuss the prospect of a new movie set in the "Last Starfighter" universe. He revealed that he's currently working with Betuel on a script for a sequel to the original film (one that would, essentially, pick up in real time some 40-plus years later). But while Castle made no indication as to whether this particular screenplay was brand-new or a fresh draft of the one Whitta and Betuel had been previously cooking up, he did state that work is still being done — meaning, the sequel is actively making progress of some kind.

According to Castle, the biggest challenge is making the script work for today's audiences. As he sees it, the sequel needs to strike a balance between creating something that moviegoers new to the world of "The Last Starfighter" can understand and something that will feel both familiar and fun to fans of the original film. More than that, it seems Castle doesn't want anyone to feel like they have to watch the original movie in order to enjoy this new installment. 

Overall, Castle sounded optimistic that he and Betuel can make their script. Getting the actual film green-lit, on the other hand, will still be a challenge — one that we can only hope they'll work out.