Though we haven’t been lacking in live-action Star Wars content thanks to the many Disney+ subscription-exclusive TV shows that have been released, we haven’t gotten a new Star Wars movie since The Rise of Skywalker in 2019. Fortunately that dry spell will finally come to an end when The Mandalorian & Grogu premieres on the 2026 movies schedule this summer. After that, the Ryan Gosling-led and Shawn Levy-directed Starfighter will follow in 2027. Your Friends & Neighbors’ Jonathan Tropper wrote the upcoming Star Wars movie’s script, and his latest comments about it have seemingly shut down a popular rumor that was circling the feature.
For context, it was rumored last October that Starfighter, which is set five years after The Rise of Skywalker, will heavily feature Jedi. It was a strange bit of news considering that from what little we know about Starfighter, it’s expected to focus on pilots and non-Force sensitive characters in this corner of a galaxy far, far away. Well, judging by what Tropper said to ScreenRant about how the Starfighter team wasn’t “bound by any structures of the past movies,” it doesn’t sound like we should give any credence to this rumor:
Obviously, lightsabers are a part of that universe and that part of that galaxy. I'm so careful not to reveal anything, but essentially, I think it's known that we have no legacy characters. You're not going to see any of the characters you've seen in the other movies. So there are certain things that are still hallmarks of Star Wars that it's good to have in there. But more than that, I can't say.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Star Wars: Starfighter won’t feature any legacy characters. Not only is the movie’s cue cast comprised of all-new faces, Kathleen Kennedy, who recently stepped down as Lucasfilm’s president, said earlier this month that this was designed to be a “real stand-alone.” More importantly, Jonathan Tropper seems to be all but outright saying that there aren’t going to be any Jedi or Force-related elements in Starfighter.
So if you were expecting to see someone ignite a lightsaber or move objects with their mind in Starfighter, best to make peace with that not happening right now. Barring some last-minute twist or shakeup, this movie is more geared towards the people who like the starship battles and dogfights in the Star Wars universe. Maybe there might be a mention of the Force, but it’s not going to be called upon to aid Ryan Gosling’s character or any of the movie’s other protagonists.
For those of you who are craving Jedi action on the big screen again, plans appear to be in motion for making that happen. Another rumor is making the rounds that Daisy Ridley’s Rey is expected to play a “huge role” in the new Star Wars trilogy being developed by Simon Kinberg, albeit in a supporting capacity. James Mangold had also written a script for a Star Wars movie that explores the origins of the Jedi 25,000 years before A New Hope, but according to Kathleen Kennedy, that project’s been put on hold.
Meanwhile, Ryan Gosling will be joined in Star Wars: Starfighter by Flynn Gray, Matt Smith, Mia Goth, Aaron Pierre, Amy Adams, Simon Bird, Jamael Westman and Daniel Ings. The movie will be released in theaters on May 28, 2027.
