Key Insights

• New Project: Star Wars: Starfighter is a standalone film, not a sequel or prequel.
• Fresh Characters: The film features new characters and a new timeline.
• Legacy Themes: It inherits legacy themes while aiming to provide a fresh experience.
• Release Date: The film is scheduled to be released in theaters on May 28, 2027.

Shawn Levy is currently filming Star Wars: Starfighter, and there has been considerable discussion about how the film fits into the franchise. While speaking with Collider, Levy confirmed that Starfighter is something new; it’s neither a sequel nor a prequel, but a completely standalone project.

“Well, for one thing, it is different in that it is an all-new non-sequel, non-prequel adventure,” Levy explained. “It’s new characters, it’s a new timeline. It inherits legacy themes, but it’s really trying to give Star Wars — and just movie audiences — something fresh, something new. And with a spirit of play and big-hearted adventure with moments of real levity that, frankly, A New Hope had in a revolutionary way. We’re really trying to sort of take that tone as a North Star every day.“

Levy continued, “My crew, my DP, Claudio Miranda, [Ryan] Gosling is my kind of central collaborator in the lead role. It’s certainly been a dream come true. My 10-year-old self is on set with me every day. In fact, he’s going to catch a flight tonight to go back to the set and keep shooting on Monday. But it’s a huge invigorating opportunity because Lucasfilm has been so encouraging of me doing something new. There’s no pressure to be derivative or limited by an obligation to what came before. There’s just a love of what came before.“

We do know that Starfighter takes place several years after the events of The Rise of Skywalker, so there’s always a chance some familiar characters or locations could be featured, but I would love to see a truly standalone Star Wars story.

Ryan Gosling (The Fall Guy) leads a star-studded lineup for Star Wars: Starfighter, which includes Flynn Gray (Wednesday), Matt Smith (Caught Stealing), Mia Goth (Pearl), Aaron Pierre (Lanterns), Simon Bird (The Inbetweeners), Jamael Westman (The Essex Serpent), Daniel Ings (The Gentlemen), and Amy Adams (Man of Steel).

“I feel a profound sense of excitement and honor as we begin production on Star Wars: Starfighter,” said Levy when the project began. “From the day Kathy Kennedy called me up, inviting me to develop an original adventure in this incredible Star Wars galaxy, this experience has been a dream come true, creatively and personally. Star Wars shaped my sense of what story can do, how characters and cinematic moments can live with us forever. To join this storytelling galaxy with such brilliant collaborators onscreen and off, is the thrill of a lifetime.“

The film is set to hit theaters on May 28, 2027.