In a surprising development, The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Ryan Gosling is in negotiations to star in Shawn Levy’s still-untitled Star Wars film!
Casting Gosling is also expected to significantly speed up the development of this movie, according to THR. Levy was “eyeing to direct a boy band movie set up at Paramount, which would have reunited him with Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman”, but with Gosling coming on board with this project Levy will turn his full attention to Star Wars as his next project – with filming beginning this fall, the article notes.
That makes sense, given the fact that Gosling is an A-list celebrity in Hollywood and casting him would bring increased attention to the project. Known for his roles in movies like The Notebook, Half Nelson, La La Land, Blade Runner 2049, Barbie, and more, Gosling has been nominated for three Academy Awards (two for Best Actor and one for Best Supporting Actor) and six Golden Globe Awards (winning one).
Casting well-known talent is something that has been extremely rare for the Star Wars franchise, especially in a lead role. The original, prequel, and sequel trilogies famously cast relatively unknown trios as their main characters, and many of the other roles and projects have followed suit There have been exceptions, however. Maybe the most well-known came with the very first film, as George Lucas cast the well-known Alec Guinness and Peter Cushing as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Grand Moff Tarkin, respectively, in an attempt to give some gravitas to the unheard-of space film (to this day, Guinness remains the only actor ever nominated for an Academy Award for work on a Star Wars movie, as he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor). More recently, Star Wars has cast more well-known figures like Benicio Del Toro (The Last Jedi), Woody Harrelson (Solo), Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian), Carl Weathers (The Mandalorian), Stellan Skarsgard (Andor), and Jude Law (Skeleton Crew), so it’s not something unheard of. But there is little doubt about it: Ryan Gosling would be one of the most famous and recognized actors ever to be cast as a lead in a Star Wars project, and it’s not really close.
We have almost no information about Levy’s film, other than that THR notes it is meant to be a stand-alone movie. No details about the plot, timeline, or characters have been revealed or leaked, but Levy has been working on writing the film for a few years. He is an accomplished director and producer, having most recently directed Marvel’s Deadpool & Wolverine, but also having directed things like Big Fat Liar, Cheaper by the Dozen, Night at the Museum, and All the Light We Cannot See (series), while also executive producing and directing episodes of Stranger Things for Netflix.
The next Star Wars film to hit the big screen will be The Mandalorian & Grogu, directed by Jon Favreau, which recently wrapped filming and will release on May 22, 2026. But after that? We know of several movies in various stages of development, but it sounds like Shawn Levy’s film could be the next one to begin filming, which could set it up to be the next one in line to be released. Because of all of this, I’m guessing that we’ll hear quite a bit more by way of updates about this movie at Star Wars Celebration in April.
Star Wars Thoughts 