Last year, Star Wars: Starfighter director Shawn Levy revealed that he had to completely rework the third act of the film. Without going too much into detail, Levy revealed things weren't aligning with the film's original ending, forcing him to go back to the drawing board and reshoot that entire section of the movie.
"There was something unexpected on Starfighter," the filmmaker said back in November. "It was, we had a whole different idea for something in the third act and then things didn’t align and I was forced to come up with a new idea. And I’m literally right now shooting that section of the movie."
While reshoots and reworks often come with a negative connotation in movie making, Levy acknowledged, "I’m grateful that the way I was supposed to do it didn’t work out, because the new idea that it forced me to explore is so much better than the original idea would have been."
The storyline of Star Wars: Starfighter is being kept tightly under wraps. Lucasfilm calls it an "entirely original adventure" set roughly five years after Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. The film stars Ryan Gosling as a completely new character, alongside Flynn Gray, a young boy whom Gosling’s character appears to be tasked with protecting.
While promoting the theatrical release of his new film Project Hail Mary, Gosling was asked about the creative overhaul for the third act for Star Wars: Starfighter. Predictably, Gosling couldn't go into detail, but he did assure fans that
"Well, I can't comment on that specifically, but I loved working with Shawn and I had total faith in him," Gosling said. "I started calling him the mailman because he always delivers. What I found in the process of making this, and I think the fans will find out is that the mailman is going to deliver."
As an entirely original story separate from the Skywalker Saga, there's a ton of intrigue surrounding Star Wars: Starfighter. The film is expected to explore new parts of the galaxy, introducing fans to fresh characters without ties to existing storylines. That alone makes Starfighter worth the buzz. Let's hope it can deliver, though.
“I feel a profound sense of excitement and honor as we begin production on Star Wars: Starfighter,” director Shawn Levy said last year. “From the day Kathy Kennedy called me up, inviting me to develop an original adventure in this incredible Star Wars galaxy, this experience has been a dream come true, creatively and personally. Star Wars shaped my sense of what story can do, how characters and cinematic moments can live with us forever. To join this storytelling galaxy with such brilliant collaborators onscreen and off, is the thrill of a lifetime.”
Star Wars: Starfighter is scheduled to release in theaters on May 28, 2027.