Next year, as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Star Wars franchise, a brand new movie will take the saga into a brand new era.
Starfighter, directed by Shawn Levy, hits theaters on May 28, 2027. Set in the post-The Rise of Skywalker galaxy, the film stars Ryan Gosling as Kade Auberon. At D23 on Friday night, Gosling told audiences a little bit about his character, saying, “Kade is a guy from the wrong side of the galaxy, whose fate is intertwined with the fastest starfighter ever built.” The StarWars.com description adds a little more, stating, that “when a cynical rogue is confronted by his mysterious past, he is hurled into a dangerous adventure across the galaxy that puts him on a crash course with destiny.”
Alongside that description, Gosling was given a new jacket. The logo on the back seems designed to resemble a skull and crossbones, but it’s actually the Rebel Alliance starbird logo flipped upside down. That’s curious, and I wonder if it could a further glimpse into the movie’s main character?
We’ll have to wait to learn more, but audiences in attendance at D23 were treated to the first look at the new movie with one-minute teaser trailer. It began with Flynn Gray’s character is in a hanger admiring a starfighter. Reports have long said that Gosling and Gray will be the leads of this film, with Gosling tasked to protect the kid. In this footage, Gosling’s character – Kade Auberon – tells the kid not to touch anything. Kade then explains that this starfighter is “a decommissioned G17 Imperial reaper. Fastest starfighter ever built.” When Gray says he’s never heard of it, Gosling simply responds, “There’s a reason for that.”
From there, the trailer featured several brief glimpses. The characters ride a speeder over a watery world, we see a shot of Kade’s jacket (the one with the inverse Rebel starbird), we see him working as a mechanic on the ship in the hangar, more shots of the fighter flying over a planet’s surface, a droid piloting a ship, and a close-up of Gosling’s face. Though it was really just a teaser trailer, it played up the sense of adventure, and drove home why it’s titled Starfighter.
By far the biggest piece of information we learned was about this ship, an old Imperial reaper that Kade calls the fastest ship ever built. There’s a reason it was kept out of the public knowledge, a reason why it wasn’t widely used, and a reason why Kade pilots it – but we don’t know any of that. What we know is that Kade Auberon is a bit of a rogue, a pilot, who goes on a mission with this kid. And, in the process, takes the Star Wars franchise further into the future than it’s ever been on the big screen.
Star Wars Starfighter hits theaters next May, on the same weekend the franchise celebrates its 50th anniversary. This latest chapter stars Ryan Gosling, Flynn Gray, Matt Smith, Mia Goth, Aaron Pierre, Simon Bird, Jamael Westman, Daniel Ings, and Amy Adams. It’s directed by Shawn Levy with a script by Jonathan Tropper, produced by Levy and Kathleen Kennedy, and executive produced by Gosling, Dan Levine, Mary McLaglen, and Josh McLaglen.
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