Star Wars: Starfighter — key information
- Set to arrive in May 2027
- No trailer released yet
- First footage shown behind closed doors at this year's CineEurope, San Diego Comic-Con and D23 Expo
- 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 fly its way onto a big screen near you in less than a year's time. Indeed, with the Ryan Gosling-starring sci-fi adventure movie set to take flight in theaters on May 28, 2027, the countdown is well and truly on to Lucasfilm's next feature flick.
So, what do we know about the next Star Wars film ahead of its mid-2027 release? In this guide, you'll find all of the most important and newest details on one of next year's most anticipated new movies, including news of its cast and plot. Engage that hyperdrive, then, and let's get the lowdown on Starfighter.
Star Wars: Starfighter release date
As I mentioned above, Star Wars: Starfighter is charting a course to theaters on May 28, 2027.
That official release date was confirmed at Star Wars Celebration 2025 and, as long as its crew doesn't encounter any major post-production issues, it won't be delayed.
Star Wars: Starfighter trailer — is there one?
No. Well, not one that's been released publicly. Various rounds of footage have been shown at this year's CineEurope, San Diego Comic-Con, and D23 Expo, but said teasers have all been shown exclusively to attendees.
Once an official trailer is released, I'll update this section.
Star Wars: Starfighter confirmed cast
Here's Star Wars: Starfighter's confirmed cast so far:
- Ryan Gosling as Kade Auberon
- Flynn Gray as TBC
- Matt Smith as TBC
- Mia Goth as TBC
- Aaron Pierre as TBC
- Simon Bird as TBC
- Jamael Westman as TBC
- Daniel Ings as TBC
- Amy Adams as TBC
As of April 2025, Gosling (Project Hail Mary, Barbie) was the only actor confirmed to appear. At D23 Expo 2026, Gosling and director Shawn Levy revealed that the latter's character was called Kade Auberon, too.
Four months after Gosling was announced in mid-2025, a separate article posted on StarWars.com revealed relative acting newcomer Flynn Gray (Wednesday) will co-star alongside Starfighter's lead actor.
That pair side, Smith (House of the Dragon, Doctor Who), Goth (Pearl, The Odyssey), Pierre (Rebel Ridge, Lanterns), and Adams (Invasion, American Hustle) are also going to be part of proceedings. Like Gray, their character identities are currently unknown.
Rounding out the cast are Ings (A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, The Gentlemen), Bird (The Inbetweeners, Friday Night Dinner), and Westman (Hedda, The Essex Serpent). Again, there's no official information on their character's names or roles in this film.
Star Wars: Starfighter plot details and rumors
Possible spoilers follow for Star Wars: Starfighter.
Public information on Star Wars: Starfighter's story is practically non-existent at this stage. However, thanks to the above X/Twitter post, we know it'll be set five years after Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker, so 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. "It's an all-new non-sequel, non-prequel adventure," he said. "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". That said, you can expect it to have the humor, drama, and action of many of his family-oriented works, such as The Adam Project for Netflix, rather than more mature projects like Stranger Things and Deadpool and Wolverine.
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 ScreenRant 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?
We don't know. Right now, Star Wars: Starfighter is 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, Starfighter 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 confirmed to be coming to Disney+ in january 2027. For more on that show's next chapter, read my guide on everything we know so far about Ahsoka season 2.
