Star Wars: Starfighter — release date, confirmed cast, and everything else we know about Lucasfilm's new sci-fi movie | Tech Radar

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Star Wars: Starfighter — release date, confirmed cast, and everything else we know about Lucasfilm's new sci-fi movie

Star Wars: Starfighter will be the next film released as part of Lucasfilm's iconic galaxy far, far away

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Ryan Gosling and Flynn Gray will portray Star Wars: Starfighter's lead characters (Image credit: Shawn Levy)

Set to arrive in May 2027
No trailer released yet
Ryan Gosling will play its lead character
Other cast additions unveiled
Story largely being kept under wraps
Unclear how it'll impact future Star Wars movies

Star Wars: Starfighter will be the next Lucasfilm project to take flight in that famous galaxy far, far away — and we have a long, long wait for its arrival.

Indeed, with this next Star Wars movie not due out until May 28, 2027, you're going to have to sit tight for the Ryan Gosling-fronted sci-fi adventure to land in a theater near you. Thankfully, you can pass the time by reading all the most important information we have so far on one of 2027's most exciting new movies, including its confirmed cast and possible plot details, in this guide. So, read on to learn more about it ahead of launch.

Star Wars: Starfighter comes to theaters on May 28, 2027. #Star Wars Celebration pic.twitter.com/dsb Vb 3 Vd BYApril 18, 2025

As I mentioned above, Star Wars: Starfighter will launch worldwide on May 28, 2027. That official release date was confirmed at Star Wars Celebration 2025.

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With principal photography wrapping last December, Starfighter is well on its way to being ready for that date. I wouldn't be surprised if reshoots and/or pickups happen, but I doubt they or the film's lengthy post-production stage will result in a delay.

Ryan Gosling, star of the upcoming Star Wars: Starfighter, makes his Star Wars Celebration debut. pic.twitter.com/Ce Zt I36 Qh OApril 18, 2025

No. An exclusive sneak peek was shown to Star Wars Celebration 2025 attendees, but that footage is yet to make its way online.

Unless a teaser makes a surprise showing at San Diego Comic-Con 2026 in late July, I wouldn't be shocked if we're made to wait until November or December for a trailer to be publicly unveiled. Whenever its first footage officially makes its way online, I'll update this section.

Gosling (left) and Flynn (right) will star in next year's one and only Star Wars movie (Image credit: Lucasfilm/Star Wars.com)

Here's Star Wars: Starfighter's confirmed cast so far:

As of April 2025, Gosling (Project Hail Mary, Barbie) was the only actor confirmed to appear in a project directed by Stranger Things, Free Guy, and Deadpool and Wolverine filmmaker Shawn Levy (per Star Wars.com).

However, a separate article posted on Star Wars.com four months later revealed who'll appear alongside Gosling. That includes relative acting newcomer Flynn Gray (Wednesday), who, judging by the two official behind-the-scenes snaps released, will co-star alongside Starfighter's lead actor.

Gosling notwithstanding, Smith (House of the Dragon, Doctor Who) is arguably the next immediately recognizable face among the film's ensemble. Per Deadline, Smith will portray Starfighter's villain.

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Where the rest of its ensemble is concerned, Goth (Pearl, The Odyssey), Pierre (Rebel Ridge, Lanterns), Adams (Invasion, American Hustle), Ings (A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, The Gentlemen), Bird (The Inbetweeners, Friday Night Dinner), and Westman (Hedda, The Essex Serpent) are all set to appear. Like Gosling, Gray, and Smith, though, their character identities are shrouded in secrecy.

Star Wars: Starfighter is a standalone film that takes place five years after the events of Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker and begins production this fall. https://t.co/A3xg UDE1G0 pic.twitter.com/Kkazz 9tyv HApril 18, 2025

Public information on Star Wars: Starfighter's story is practically non-existent at this stage. However, as the above X/Twitter post confirmed last April, it'll be set five years after Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker, so we know it'll take place in a post-First Order galaxy.

Does that mean it'll be Star Wars Episode X in all but name? No, director Shawn Levy told Collider, before he added: "It's an all-new non-sequel, non-prequel adventure. It's new characters [and] it's a new timeline. It inherits legacy themes, but it's really trying to give Star Wars [fans] — 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."

Star Wars wasn't the only, well, star guiding Levy's vision for Starfighter, either. In a chat with Vanity Fair, he reveals he was also told by outgoing Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy to "make it feel like your movies feel". Expect it to have the humor, drama, and action of many of his family-oriented works, then, such as The Adam Project for Netflix.

A new plot synopsis of STAR WARS: STARFIGHTER has been revealed“In a rebuilding galaxy, a solitary pilot becomes entangled in a crucial mission as new threats emerge. Their journey may alter the future of the Force itself.”(Source: @imdb) pic.twitter.com/Ki 0ABn Z2k RMay 9, 2026

As the supposedly leaked story brief in the X/Twitter post above suggests, Starfighter won't overlook the iconic sci-fi franchise's most important elements, including the Force.

Unsurprisingly, lightsabers are also part of this movie's narrative framework, with writer Jonathan Tropper telling Screen Rant that the legendary blades used by the Jedi and Sith will have a part to play. Furthermore, in a profile piece for The New York Times, Levy also let slip that none other than Tom Cruise had choreographed a lightsaber duel for Star Wars: Starfighter. It stands to reason, then, that we'll see some Force wielders in this flick.

Given Starfighter takes place after The Rise of Skywalker, could one of those aforementioned Force users include Daisy Ridley's Rey? And will Gray's unnamed character, who teams up with Gosling's protagonist, also be Force-sensitive? I guess we'll have to see.

How will Star Wars: Starfighter impact Lucasfilm's wider galaxy?

Daisy Ridley's Rey (middle) is still reportedly getting her own standalone film (Image credit: Jonathan Olley/Lucasfilm)

We don't know. Right now, Star Wars: Starfighter is being billed as a standalone adventure, so it might not even set up one or more of the many new Star Wars movies and TV shows that are in early or active development.

That said, if — and it's a big if — Ridley's Rey does appear in Gosling's Star Wars movie, the latter might set up some loose plot threads for the Rey-starring film that's currently known as New Jedi Order. There's been very little movement on that project since it was first announced, though — and, with Dave Filoni and Lynwen Brennan recently replacing Kennedy as Lucasfilm's new co-CEOs, it's unclear how many of the in-development Star Wars productions will actually get made.

Starfighter notwithstanding, the only other Star Wars project that'll be released in the next 12 months is Star Wars: Ahsoka season 2, which is expected to launch on Disney+ sometime in 2027. For more on that show's next chapter, read my guide on everything we know so far about Ahsoka season 2.

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As Tech Radar's senior entertainment reporter, Tom covers all of the latest movies, TV shows, and streaming service news that you need to know about. You'll regularly find him writing about the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Star Wars, Netflix, Prime Video, Disney Plus, and many other topics of interest.

An NCTJ-accredited journalist, Tom also writes reviews, analytical articles, opinion pieces, and interview-led features on the biggest franchises, actors, directors and other industry leaders. You may see his quotes pop up in the odd official Marvel Studios video, too, such as this Moon Knight TV spot.

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