After years of waiting, Star Wars is returning to the big screen with a new movie reportedly focusing on a Jedi Padawan. This marks the franchise's first major film centered on a young Force-sensitive apprentice since (debatably) 2005. The return of any Jedi on the big screen will be a major change from Star Wars in the 2020s, with only TV productions thus far this decade.
According to insider Daniel Richtman, Star Wars: Starfighter will follow Ryan Gosling as a Jedi training his 15-year-old nephew as his Padawan while they’re on a dangerous mission pursued by two villains. The rumored plot he shared on his Patreon also involves the Padawan's mother and another major female character:
"A Jedi (played by Ryan Gosling) trains his 15-year-old nephew as his Padawan. They're on a 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."
If confirmed, this would mark the first major Star Wars film since the prequels to explore a traditional Jedi-Padawan relationship in real time rather than through flashbacks.
The Jedi and Padawan bond was a defining element of the Prequel Trilogy, from Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor) training under Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) in The Phantom Menace to Anakin's (Hayden Christensen) development under Obi-Wan throughout Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. In many respects, Star Wars has shown fans primarily failed Jedi-Padawan pairings, notably leading to another Obi-Wan vs. Anakin battle in Obi-Wan Kenobi.
The Clone Wars expanded on this tradition with Anakin and Ahsoka, later shifting to live action on Disney+, but the sequel trilogy barely scratched the surface. In the sequels, Rey (Daisy Ridley) never truly is a Padawan, though she does find Luke (Mark Hamill) and Leia (Carrie Fisher), separately, to act as her masters.
In terms of a true Jedi and Padawan relationship, audiences saw a truly broken one in flashbacks during The Last Jedi. These glimpses of Luke and Ben Solo (Adam Driver) show a dark tale of how that trust between master and apprentice can go wrong quickly, even in family relationships.
If Starfighter does indeed center on a Jedi and his young apprentice, it could recapture the classic master-and-student dynamic that helped define the Jedi Order and once served as the emotional core of the saga.
While this report suggests that Gosling will play a Jedi in Star Wars: Starfighter, that detail has not been officially confirmed by Lucasfilm. What is confirmed is that Starfighter is a stand-alone live-action film directed by Shawn Levy, with Jonathan Tropper writing the script and Kathleen Kennedy producing, despite rumors that she'll be replaced at Lucasfilm.
The movie is set to begin production in fall 2025 and will be released theatrically on May 28, 2027. It was also revealed at Star Wars Celebration that the story will take place five to six years after the events of The Rise of Skywalker and may include characters from the sequel trilogy.
If Starfighter is About the Jedi, What About Rey's Movie?
It's a bit surprising that Star Wars: Starfighter appears to be the first new movie to explore the Jedi and Padawans since the Skywalker Saga, especially considering Daisy Ridley's Rey was officially announced in 2023 to lead a New Jedi Order film.
That project, helmed by director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, was expected to hit theaters sooner, but updates have slowed to a crawl. Meanwhile, The Mandalorian and Grogu is now set to be the next Star Wars film to hit theaters, but despite its close-knit family dynamic between a Jedi and his young charge, it isn't about the Jedi or Padawan tradition in the classical sense.
That makes Starfighter's rumored Jedi-Padawan storyline all the more curious and potentially telling. A compelling fan theory suggests the movie may actually be setting the stage for Rey's return. If Gosling's character is escorting his Force-sensitive nephew (broom kid?) across the galaxy, that journey's "end goal" might be to bring him to Rey's new Jedi Academy.
This theory gains traction thanks to Kennedy's comment that Starfighter takes place about five years after The Rise of Skywalker, the exact timeline where Rey would likely be rebuilding the Jedi. With hints like a lightsaber hum during the reveal, Starfighter could serve as a stealth prologue to her New Jedi Order film.
