Shawn Levy's Star Wars Movie With Ryan Gosling Gets A Title And Release Date

From Star Wars Celebration in Japan, Lucasfilm officially announced Shawn Levy's new "Star Wars" movie, in development since 2022, by giving it an official title and a release date.

"Star Wars: Starfighter" is the name of the new movie, though it doesn't have anything to do with the video game of the same name, and it's been slated for release on May 28, 2027, just in time for the 50th anniversary of "Star Wars: A New Hope." Furthermore, Ryan Gosling has been confirmed as the lead, though there's no word on who will be joining him after Oscar-winning "Anora" star Mikey Madison was recently revealed to have passed on a supporting role in the film.

Gosling took the stage with Levy at Celebration, complete with an image of "Star Wars" bedsheets straight from his childhood home, courtesy of his mother (via The Hollywood Reporter). Gosling said, "As you can see from the picture, I guess I was probably dreaming about 'Star Wars' before I even saw the film. And it's probably framed my idea of what a movie even was."

As for what the movie is about, plot details for the script from Jonathan Tropper ("The Adam Project") are being kept under wraps, and it's not clear whether the movie's title refers to a nondescript ship or to a pilot, perhaps the main character who will be played by Gosling. However, Levy did confirm a few details.

At Celebration, Levy revealed, "This is a standalone. It's not a prequel, not sequel. It's a new adventure. It's set in a period of time that we haven't seen explored yet."

That time period is approximately five years after "The Rise of Skywalker," as Levy said on stage. But the film will not have any narrative connective tissue to the Skywalker Saga. With production set to begin this fall, this will be "an entirely new adventure featuring all-new characters," according to Lucasfilm's official press release. 

Here's the title treatment that was unveiled at Star Wars Celebration. It looks unlike any other that we've seen from this franchise before, but it also doesn't tell us anything about what to expect, unless we can read into that little light shine as alluding to a lightsaber. But even then, that's not much to go on.

Star Wars: Starfighter comes to theaters on May 28, 2027. #StarWarsCelebration pic.twitter.com/dsbVb3VdBY

— Star Wars (@starwars) April 18, 2025

Considering the timing of this movie, it's rather shocking that the first original "Star Wars" movie out of the gate is going to be one that tells a standalone story, rather than something that's intended to kick off the next era of "Star Wars." Before "Starfighter" arrives in 2027, we'll get "The Mandalorian and Grogu" in 2026, but that's not something that will impact the next wave of "Star Wars" movies, as it's more closely tied to the ongoing TV shows on Disney+