While we’re still waiting for more concrete plot and character details about the Ryan Gosling-led “Star Wars: Starfighter,” director Shawn Levy has confirmed the upcoming feature film won’t be either a prequel or sequel to previous “Star Wars” stories, being its own standalone romp that will allow them a little more creative wiggle-room than we’ve seen with the other Disney-made movies.
Levy was recently interviewed by Collider, leading up to the debut of the final season of “Stranger Things,” dishing about his anticipated “Star Wars” flick taking place in its own corner of the cinematic franchise, telegraphing the film’s originality and having less of a connection to other franchise projects.
“Well, for one thing, it is different in that it is an all-new non-sequel, non-prequel adventure. It’s new characters, 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.”
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“We’re really trying to sort of take that tone as a North Star every day. My crew, my DP, Claudio Miranda, 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,” Levy told Collider of the new “Star Wars” movie being allowed to do its own thing with original characters and events, not beholden to previous adventures or canon.
Others among the cast include Gosling’s young co-star Flynn Gray alongside Matt Smith (“House of the Dragon”), Mia Goth (“Frankenstein”), Aaron Pierre (“Rebel Ridge,” “Lanterns”), Simon Bird, Jamael Westman, Daniel Ings, and Amy Adams (“Arrival”).
Previously, there had been some indication that “Star Wars: Starfighter” would be tied to the canonical timeline either before or after the events of “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” but that might not be the case, given these new comments from Levy. This also might be a good thing for the franchise to start moving on beyond gap-filling stories with established characters/events. Disney had announced that “Starfighter” would be hitting theaters on May 28, 2027.
Christopher Marc is lead writer at The Playlist and the primary engine behind our daily news coverage. Chris is based in Canada and tracks everything from Marvel and Star Wars developments to arthouse acquisitions and festival buzz with equal enthusiasm and an instinct for the story readers actually want to read.
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