‘Star Wars: Starfighter’ Brought Ryan Gosling Back To Studio Franchise IP Due To Shawn Levy’s “Enthusiasm & Vison,” Alongside The Script

Canadian actor Ryan Gosling got his start with Disney‘s revival of the “Mickey Mouse Club” in the 1990s and starred in a prequel series spinoff of the Sam Raimi-produced “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.” Since then, becoming a film star in his own right, Gosling has held off from jumping feet first into the world of studio franchises until briefly dipping his toes with Denis Villeneuve‘s one-off sequel “Blade Runner 2049” and now is finally back in that world with Shawn Levy‘s “Star Wars: Starfighter. We now have a better idea of what changed his mind on tackling franchise IP.

Gosling is making the press rounds to help promote the sci-fi comedy “Project Hail Mary,” funny enough, directed by former “Solo: A Star Wars Story” helmers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. And the actor dished to i09 during a recent interview about his reasoning for boarding the “Star Wars” universe over other various franchise roles.

READ MORE: ‘The Hunt For Ben Solo’: Frustrated Steven Soderbergh Says He Gave “Two & A Half Years Of Free Work” To Nixed ‘Star Wars’ Film

“It was Shawn’s enthusiasm and his vision and the script,” Gosling told io9 of his reasoning for joining the “Star Wars” franchise. “And I just avoided these things because they never felt right. And I’m glad I did because I feel like, [similar to] a book like this, [it was] worth waiting for. And it is like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Ultimately, audiences will decide if “Starfighter” will be a new franchise-starter for Lucasfilm/Disney or simply another standalone that stops at a single installment. In that upcoming space adventure, Gosling leads a cast with newcomer Flynn Gray alongside other cast members such as Matt Smith, Mia Goth, Amy Adams, Aaron Pierre, Simon Bird, Jamael Westman, and Daniel Igns.

This might not be the end of Gosling’s dabbling in studio franchises, as he’s previously expressed a mild interest in playing the MCU version of Ghost Rider (after refuting rumblings of being in the mix for Nova), with Marvel Studios‘ Kevin Feige giving the impression he’s open to the idea. Although we don’t know if there are any real concrete plans for the supernatural antihero after they killed a TV show spinoff featuring Gabriel Luna from “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” and have since fridged all iterations of Ghost Rider (multiple Ghost Riders were featured in the comic book run of “Midnight Son” and could be perfect source material for the next solo “Doctor Strange” installment).

Also, Greta Gerwig‘s “Barbie” may have a sequel to the billion-dollar hit in early development, but unclear if Gosling would even be involved or if the project is even going to see the light of day.

Support independent movie journalism to keep it alive. Sign up for The Playlist Newsletter. All the content you want and, oh, right, it’s free.

That all said, the buzzy “Project Hail Mary” will be unleashed in theaters on March 20, with Disney setting the release for “Star Wars: Starfighter” on May 28, 2027.