Star Wars: Starfighter, Ryan Gosling's first foray into the franchise, has already broken a major record ahead of its arrival in theaters on May 28, 2027. The film's first trailer made Star Wars history with a single reveal from Gosling's character. The movie is Lucasfilm and Disney's second theatrical Star Wars release after seven years spent telling stories almost exclusively on streaming, following The Mandalorian & Grogu earlier this year. Starfighter is shaping up to be one of the most unique Star Wars stories of the Disney era. In fact, the franchise record its trailer just broke is one no movie has pulled off in 49 years.
The first trailer for Star Wars: Starfighter was unveiled behind closed doors at Disney's D23 Expo in August, and it offered some of the most significant details about the movie yet. In the footage, Gosling's character, a pilot named Kade Auberon, reveals that his ship, a decommissioned G17 Imperial Reaper, is the "fastest starfighter ever built." That single statement is what made history. It means Auberon's starfighter outruns every vessel put on screen since Star Wars storytelling began 49 years ago.
The record-breaking trailer has not been officially released online since it was previewed for attendees at D23, though fan-filmed recordings briefly circulated before Lucasfilm pulled them down. For those not privileged enough to be in the crowd, the footage begins with Flynn Gray's character slipping into a dusty workshop lined with computer terminals.
He pulls a tarp off a covered ship and runs his hand across the dusty surface before Kade catches him. "Hey, didn't I tell you not to touch anything?" the pilot snaps. Startled, the boy flinches for a second, then asks what kind of starfighter it is. Kade's answer is the record-breaking reveal already mentioned.
The young boy is perplexed by the name, telling Kade he has never heard of it. Kade simply answers, "There's a reason for that." The camera then cuts to a montage of the Imperial Reaper in action across the galaxy as it dodges blaster fire. Further shots show the ship navigating between towering pillars of water on an ocean world, teasing how wild Kade's adventures will be. The footage ends with a new Star Wars logo, debuting a historic design choice never before used in the franchise.
How Does Kade Auberon's Starfighter Compare to Others in the Star Wars Franchise?
Before the trailer was unveiled to D23 attendees, Gosling took the stage and described Kade as "a guy from the wrong side of the galaxy whose fate is intertwined with the fastest starfighter ever built." This hints that the movie's plot revolves around the vessel Kade flies, so it makes sense that Lucasfilm would make it one of the most impressive spacecraft it has ever put on screen. How does the G17 Imperial Reaper compare to the other starfighters introduced over the years, though?
For starters, Star Wars tracks sublight speed in megalight per hour, or MGLT, a unit that dates back to an Industrial Light & Magic reference chart built for Return of the Jedi. Until Starfighter's historic reveal, one particular ship held the crown when measured by that standard.
The TIE/vn space superiority fighter, better known as the TIE silencer that Kylo Ren flew in The Last Jedi, held the record as the fastest ship in the franchise at 155 MGLT. The TIE dagger from the Sith Eternal fleet in The Rise of Skywalker followed closely at 150 MGLT. Major Vonreg's TIE Baron from Resistance clocks in at 145, while Kylo Ren's TIE Whisper and the TIE Avenger prototype Cassian Andor stole in Andor both register 140 MGLT.
Notably, the fastest ships have belonged to villains, with heroes piloting much slower vessels by comparison. The protagonist who comes closest is Din Djarin, whose modified N-1 starfighter from The Book of Boba Fett hits 130 MGLT. The RZ-2 A-wing used by the Resistance registers 125 MGLT, and the RZ-1 A-wing flown by the Rebel Alliance and later the New Republic manages a respectable 120 MGLT. The RZ-1's most famous moment came in Return of the Jedi, where Arvel Crynyd's stricken A-wing crashing into the Executor's bridge proved decisive in the Battle of Endor. Luke Skywalker's T-65 X-wing, for reference, tops out at 100 MGLT.
Then there is the Millennium Falcon. The "fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy" only manages 75 MGLT in realspace. The G17 is officially faster than all of these iconic ships, and it marks the first time in a long time that a hero has commanded the fastest ship in the galaxy.
That said, the G17's title naturally raises the question of how it earned those bragging rights. Starfighter takes place about five years after Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which falls in 35 ABY on the official timeline. That places the film around 40 ABY, the furthest point any Star Wars movie or show has ever reached.
The Empire fell at Endor in 4 ABY and formally surrendered after the Battle of Jakku in 5 ABY. Since Kade's ship is described as an Imperial vessel, it was built in that era, which means the Reaper predates the movie by at least 35 years. It is an antique, yet it still outpaces everything the New Republic era and the First Order ever produced, including the silencer, the fastest known ship of the sequel era.
That should be impossible unless someone made serious modifications to it, which may be exactly why Kade points out that the ship is "decommissioned." A weapon that powerful does not simply stay hidden and forgotten for decades without good reason. Whatever that reason is, it likely plays directly into the movie's plot.
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.
