New Star Wars Movie Is Going Back To A 49-Year-Old Fundamental In One Key Way

Published Jul 21, 2026, 3:26 PM EDT Jeff Dodge (he/him), a published author and graduate of Western Washington University, has been a TV news editor for many years and has had the chance to interview multiple reality show stars, including Randy Jackson, Nick Cannon, Heidi Klum, Mel B and John Cena. Fun Fact: he’s been to every single Idol Live! Tour. The next Star Wars film, Star Wars: Starfighter, will take the long-running franchise back to basics in a way audiences haven't seen since the 1970s. Star Wars: Starfighter is directed by Deadpool & Wolverine filmmaker Shawn Levy, with a script by Jonathan Tropper. The movie serves as Ryan Gosling's first foray into the space opera franchise, as he stars alongside fellow cast members Matt Smith, Mia Goth, Amy Adams, Aaron Pierre, Simon Bird, Daniel Ings and Jamael Westman. Star Wars: Starfighter doesn't arrive in theaters until May 2027, but Tropper teased during an interview with The Playlist what audiences can expect from the next installment in the franchise and how accessible it will be to the general theatrical audience. While the screenwriter refused to divulge storyline details, he did reveal that Starfighter will be more aligned with the original Star Wars from 1977 than the many sequels and prequels that came after it. Both Tropper and Levy were kids when Lucas debuted the Star Wars franchise, and when it came to creating a vision for Starfighter, they wanted to "create the feeling in theaters that we had as kids...That sense of swashbuckling adventure into new worlds. For us, that was really important." Another crucial piece of Star Wars: Starfighter was ensuring that the film would be accessible to as many people as possible, instead of just catering to the diehard fans. "There are no barriers to entry," Tropper explained. "You don't have to have seen other Star Wars movies to step into this one." “The goal from the beginning, when Shawn and I first started talking about it, was to create the feeling in theaters that we had as kids seeing ‘Star Wars’ back in 1977. That sense of a swashbuckling adventure into new worlds. For us, that was really important. There are no barriers to entry. You don’t have to have seen other Star Wars movies to step into this one.” This marks a major turning point for the franchise. The most recent installment, The Mandalorian and Grogu, which came out in May of this year and underwhelmed at the box office with $344.8 million, assumed that moviegoers had already seen the Disney+ series The Mandalorian. The prequels and sequels are connected to the original trilogy, while Rogue One leads directly into A New Hope, and Solo features younger versions of existing characters like Han Solo and Lando Calrissian. Several of the TV shows, particularly the ones exclusive to Disney+ like Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor and Ahsoka, have ties to existing movies or shows. In an era when franchises like Star Wars and the Marvel Cinematic Universe have become so interconnected that even casual fans are forced to be caught up in every single entry, fatigue has set in, so Tropper wanted to make it clear that Starfighter is a break from what came before and a good entry point into the iconic property. Tropper has worked with Levy before on projects like This is Where I Leave You, Kodachrome and The Adam Project, so he already knows what the filmmaker is like at the helm and as a producer. For Star Wars: Starfighter, the writer believes that Levy has "done an incredible job." He also gave a shout-out to lead star Gosling and admitted that, with 10 months to go until it's released, he's "dying for people to see" the movie. “I think Shawn has done an incredible job. I think Gosling’s incredible. It’s going to be a really long wait until this comes out because I’m dying for people to see it.” Aside from the films he's collaborated with Levy on, Tropper is the creator of the brand-new Apple TV series Lucky, as well as Banshee, Warrior and Your Friends & Neighbors. He also wrote the scripts for The Wrecking Crew and Matchbox: The Movie. Star Wars: Starfighter will be released in theaters on Friday, May 28, 2027. Release Date May 28, 2027 Director Shawn Levy Writers Jonathan Tropper, George Lucas Producers Shawn Levy, Kathleen Kennedy