Star Wars fans the world over can breathe a sigh of relief as an actual franchise feature film is finally in production, with Quebec filmmaker Shawn Levy’s Star Wars: Starfighter having begun principal photography in the U.K. on August 28th and has since moved to Sardinia, Italy just last week.
It has been a long and arduous road to this latest feature film set in the galaxy far, far away, as there has not been one released since the 2019 hollow husk that was Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which concluded the nine movie Skywalker-centred saga that began with very first entry in the entire franchise, Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, all the way back in 1977. While Star Wars has since thrived on television, most notably with Andor, which now stands as one of the greatest television shows ever made, many talented filmmakers have tried and failed to make their own Star Wars movie, including Guillermo del Toro, D. B. Weiss and David Benioff, and Damon Lindelof, among others.
However, it was Levy who finally managed to get a production off the ground, no doubt in part due to the immense success he generated for Disney with 2024’s Deadpool & Wolverine, which set a record for the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time, drawing a staggering $1.338 billion USD at the global box office.
When I last covered Star Wars: Starfighter in April, only Ryan Gosling was cast (though, news broke at the time that recent Oscar-winner Mikey Madison had turned down a role for financial reasons) and nothing was known about the story, other than what the title suggests is a narrative centred on a skilled pilot played by Gosling. With production underway, there have since been major developments in casting, as a very talented cast has been announced, which includes Matt Smith the playing the villain, Mia Goth (likely filling the role offered to Madison), budding star Aaron Pierre, The Inbetweeners’ Simon Bird, Jamael Westman, Daniel Ings, and none other than Amy Adams.
Perhaps the most notable casting is the 14-year-old unknown Irish newcomer Flynn Gray, who ostensibly plays the primary supporting role alongside Gosling, which is apparent since he is the only other actor who has appeared in both promotional pictures released from the shoot so far.
The first image was released on the same day principal photography began in August, showing Gosling and Gray sitting next to each other on the hood of a seemingly hovering vehicle, but as Indiewire pointed out – with discernible frustration, I might add – the black and white image revealed very little, especially considering its use of extensive shadows, to the point that you can barely even make out the clothing worn by Gosling. The second image rectifies this, though, as we get a colour image that finally showcases the clothing of Gosling and Gray’s characters, whose names have yet to be revealed. The clothes are still very much in tune with the Star Wars aesthetic and shows the two actors out in the Mediterranean during the shoot.
Disney is keeping details of highly anticipated feature tightly under wraps, which is certainly on-brand for the Mouse House, though they are still having to deal with multiple leaks from Marvel’s mega-production Avengers: Doomsday, so we may learn more details about Star Wars: Starfighter that way, yet fans will have to practice patience all the same. We can at least take solace in the fact that a director as capable as Shawn Levy is handling the production, while Gosling enthusiastically praised Jonathan Tropper’s script, telling a crowd at a fan event in April that “The reality is that this script is just so good. It has such a great story with great and original characters. It’s filled with so much heart and adventure,” before also praising Levy, assuring the audience “there just really is not a more perfect filmmaker for this particular story” than his fellow Canadian.
Star Wars: Starfighter is set for release on May 28th, 2027.