/Film reported that director Shawn Levy, the Hollywood journeyman behind “Big Fat Liar,” “The Pink Panther,” “Real Steel,” and “Deadpool & Wolverine,” will be overseeing a brand new “Star Wars” film called “Star Wars: Starfighter.” Little is known about the project at this juncture, other than it will star Ryan Gosling as a heretofore unknown character, and that it will be set after the events of “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.” The vast bulk of the “Star Wars” projects made by Disney since its acquisition of Lucasfilm in 2012 have been flashbacks, prequels, or interquels, so “Starfighter” will be the first “Star Wars” film since 2019 to push the timeline forward.
Mikey Madison, the Academy Award-winning star of Sean Baker’s “Anora,” was reportedly approached to play a role in “Starfighter” as well. Evidently, she was being tapped to play the film’s central villainess. Madison was a rising star when she appeared in “Anora,” having already starred in the 2022 version of “Scream” and in Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood.” Her first major role was playing Max in all 52 episodes of the 2016 series “Better Things.” Madison, however, has always been careful and choosy about her roles, so she turned down the role in “Starfighter.” Her decision was mentioned in a recent report in the Hollywood Reporter, and it seems that she wasn’t okay with the salary that Disney offered her.
Nothing else is known about “Starfighter” at this time, and the teaser trailer that Disney showed at the Star Wars Celebration press event in 2025 (covered on the company’s website) was merely an animated title screen with a proposed release date: May 28, 2027. It will follow the release of “The Mandalorian & Grogu,” set to open on May 22, 2026. Multiple other “Star Wars” films are in the development stage, but none of them yet have a release date.
