UPDATES from Star Wars Celebration.
The film is titled Star Wars: Starfighter, and will be a standalone adventure set a few years after the events of The Rise of Skywalker. A release date of May 28, 2027 was also announced.
“The reality is that this script is just so good. It has such a great story with great and original characters,” said Gosling from the stage. “It’s filled with so much heart and adventure, and there just really is not a more perfect filmmaker for this particular story than Shawn.”
“This is a standalone. It’s not a prequel, not sequel. It’s a new adventure. It’s set in a period of time that we haven’t seen explored yet,” added Levy.
We might just get some official updates on Shawn Levy's mysterious Star Wars movie over the weekend during Star Wars Celebration Japan, but in the meantime, we have the first plot details courtesy of scooper Daniel Richtman.
Apparently, the untitled movie will follow a Jedi (played by Ryan Gosling) who decides to train his 15-year-old nephew as his Padawan. The pair embark on some kind of mission while being pursued by two villains — one male, one female. The Padawan’s mother also plays an important role in the story, and there’s another major female character as well.
Richtman also claims that the film is set "a few years" after the events of The Rise of Skywalker.
Not a whole lot to go on, but it does confirm the presence of Jedi at the very least.
Apparently, the movie will "have a significantly smaller budget" than the previous Disney-era films, and is described as "a more contained" story.
Levy has been developing the script with Jonathan Tropper (This Is Where I Leave You, The Adam Project) since 2022, and is also set to produce via 21 Laps, along with Lucasfilm president (though for how much longer) Kathleen Kennedy.
Following the massive success of Deadpool and Wolverine, Levy is reportedly viewed by Disney as "a must-have, must-keep" director, so there's a good chance he will have a significant amount of creative control over the movie. Gosling's involvement is expected to fast-track the project, with production tentatively scheduled to get underway In the UK later this year.
"I'll say that the experience of crafting this story has forced me to think about that question," Levy said last year when asked what he hopes to bring to the table with his trip to the Galaxy Far, Far Away. "Because there's only so many times that Star Wars movies can revisit the same section of the timeline, and so it's really forced me - because I don't want to do a Star Wars movie that is redundant to others, nor am I interested in doing one that has to serve another movie."
"I really wanted to craft something that felt organic to me, both in tone and characters, so I think that there is certainly the Force and a connection to something bigger than our individual selves. And the way that that can make us powerful, those themes, combined with visual delight and wish fulfilment, that's Star Wars to me."
Lucasfilm also has Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy's Rey-focused movie, James Mangold's Dawn of the Jedi (probably not the official title), and Dave Filoni's "Mandoverse" crossover event in the works.