Star Wars: Starfighter will abandon one of the most divisive parts of Disney's sequel trilogy. Directed by Shawn Levy and led by Ryan Gosling, the film is Lucasfilm's next theatrical release, set to arrive in theaters on May 28, 2027. The studio unveiled the project at Star Wars Celebration in Tokyo last year and described it as an original adventure set roughly five years after Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, making it the latest story in the franchise's timeline.
Screenwriter Jonathan Tropper confirmed that Starfighter requires no familiarity with any previous Star Wars film, a clean break from the sequel trilogy's reliance on the saga's past. Tropper revealed the approach during an appearance on The Playlist's Bingeworthy podcast, and his comments signal how differently Lucasfilm is treating its next big-screen outing.
Tropper, who wrote Levy's 2022 film The Adam Project and created the Apple TV series Your Friends & Neighbors, kept Starfighter's plot under wraps during the interview. He was far more open about the kind of moviegoing experience he and Levy want to deliver.
The writer said the pair's goal from their earliest conversations was to recapture the feeling of "seeing ‘Star Wars’ back in 1977:"
"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."
Tropper mentioned that the film focuses on "wish fulfillment and adventure" rather than prior knowledge, meaning nobody needs to study a viewing guide before opening night.
Star Wars: Starfighter Is Free From Disney’s Sequel Trilogy’s Divisive Elements
The sequel trilogy took the opposite approach to the one Starfighter is taking. Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker connected themselves directly to the films that came before them, and that choice split the fanbase. Many fans loved watching Harrison Ford's Han Solo return to the Millennium Falcon alongside Chewbacca, with C-3PO and Carrie Fisher's Leia Organa also included in the new story.
The reception turned sour for others when it came to the trilogy's treatment of its legacy heroes, most of all Luke Skywalker, who resurfaced in The Last Jedi as a bitter recluse who cut himself off from the Force. Mark Hamill admitted at the time that he initially disagreed with that take on the character, though he later defended the finished film. The Rise of Skywalker stirred up its own share of anger by resurrecting Emperor Palpatine, a twist that only deepened the trilogy’s dependence on old story threads.
Why Starfighter's Fresh Start Is Its Biggest Advantage
Lucasfilm's recent box office history explains why this approach could pay off. The Rise of Skywalker closed the sequel trilogy in 2019 with just over $1 billion worldwide, roughly half of what The Force Awakens earned four years earlier, and it arrived after two years of exhausting online battles over The Last Jedi.
This past May, The Mandalorian and Grogu brought the franchise back to theaters and opened to roughly $100 million domestically over Memorial Day weekend, a figure closer to 2018’s underperforming Solo: A Star Wars Story than to the sequel trilogy's massive debuts. That film also asked casual moviegoers to walk in with knowledge of a streaming series, and plenty of them clearly stayed home.
Starfighter is free from that hurdle, which is a good advantage. Someone who last watched Star Wars in a theater decades ago, or never watched it at all, can buy a ticket without feeling behind. Gosling as the lead also strengthens this strategy. He is coming off Project Hail Mary and Barbie, the latter being one of the biggest box office hits of the decade. His involvement alone could convince thousands of people to troop into theaters.
The distance also protects the film from the fights that consumed the sequels. With no legacy characters on screen, there is nothing for longtime fans to feel protective about, and no faction arrives at the theater already angry or looking for something to be annoyed about.
Geraldo Amartey is a writer at The Direct. He joined the team in 2025, bringing with him four years of experience covering entertainment news, pop culture, and fan-favorite franchises for sites like YEN, Briefly and Tuko.
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