Ryan Gosling plays Kade Auberon in the franchise’s first film since 2019. The teaser screened at D23 and then vanished, and the poster revives a logo Lucasfilm hasn’t used since 1980.
Ryan Gosling is flying a decommissioned Imperial ship in the first new Star Wars movie in eight years.
“Star Wars: Starfighter” opens May 28, 2027, with Shawn Levy directing and Gosling starring as Kade Auberon.
The date is deliberate. The original “Star Wars” opened that same weekend in 1977.
What Star Wars: Starfighter is about
Lucasfilm has kept the plot tight.
The film is a standalone story, not a sequel or an adaptation, set roughly five years after “The Rise of Skywalker.” It is the franchise’s first theatrical release since 2019.
Gosling described his character at D23. “Kade is a guy from the wrong side of the galaxy, whose fate is intertwined with the fastest starfighter ever built.”
Levy framed the setting as new ground. “It takes place in a period of time that’s never been shown in a Star Wars adventure.”
What was in the Starfighter teaser
The footage screened for the room at D23 and has not been released publicly.
It opens on a boy, played by newcomer Flynn Gray, lifting a tarp off a mothballed starship in a hangar. Kade catches him and scolds him for snooping.
Asked what the ship is, Kade calls it a decommissioned G17 Imperial Reaper, “the fastest starfighter ever built,” then covers it back up without explaining why nobody has heard of it.
Gosling wears a black jacket stamped with an upside-down Rebel Alliance crest that reads as a skull at a glance.
Gray’s character has not been identified. Reporting from the room noted the two appear to share the hangar, raising the possibility he is Kade’s son. Lucasfilm has not confirmed it.
The poster brings back the 1977 logo
Attendees left with a piece of design history.
The Starfighter poster handed out at D23 uses the original 1977 “Star Wars” logo, a design that has not appeared on a theatrical poster since “The Empire Strikes Back” in 1980.
For a film positioned as the franchise’s first genuinely new direction in years, reaching back to the 1977 mark is a specific choice.
Who else is in Star Wars: Starfighter
The cast is deeper than a standalone usually gets.
Alongside Gosling and Gray: Amy Adams, Matt Smith, Mia Goth, Aaron Pierre, Simon Bird, Jamael Westman and Daniel Ings.
Kathleen Kennedy produces with Levy. Jonathan Tropper wrote the script. Executive producers include Gosling, Dave Filoni, Mary McLaglen, Josh McLaglen and Dan Levine.
Claudio Miranda, who shot “F1” and “Top Gun: Maverick,” is the cinematographer.
When Star Wars: Starfighter was filmed
Principal photography ran August through December 2025, which leaves roughly a year and a half for post-production.
The project was formally announced by Kennedy and Filoni at Star Wars Celebration in Tokyo, after months of reports linking Gosling and Levy to an unnamed Lucasfilm film.
Levy has cited American car culture, “The Outsiders” and George Lucas’ “American Graffiti” as influences.
What else is coming from Star Wars
The slate around Starfighter has filled in considerably.
“Ahsoka” returns for its second season on Disney+ on Jan. 20, with Hayden Christensen back as Anakin Skywalker.
“Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” reached Disney+ on Sept. 2 after finishing near $345 million theatrically, a figure Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro acknowledged fell short of expectations.
Lucasfilm separately passed on a droid film pitched by Paul King and Simon Farnaby, who were told the studio needed it to feel more like a Star Wars movie.
Gosling has other franchise work ahead. He is playing Ghost Rider for Marvel in 2028.
Nine months out, and the only footage anyone outside that room has seen is a poster.
Article compiled with the help of the Pirates & Princesses newsroom.
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Hat Tips:
StarWars.com, Gosling’s Kade Auberon quote, Levy’s comments on the 50-year anniversary weekend, the full cast and the production credits
Yahoo Entertainment, the report that Lucasfilm scrubbed fan-captured teaser footage within 48 hours and Levy’s release-date remarks
The Direct, the three-character teaser observation, the G17 Imperial Reaper detail and the inverted Rebel Alliance crest
The Playlist, the hangar scene description, Claudio Miranda’s involvement and the possible father-son reading
MovieWeb, the August through December 2025 shooting schedule and the post-”Rise of Skywalker” placement
tbreak, the 1977 logo poster detail
Variety, the standalone framing and the five-year time jump