Shawn Levy credits his work on Stranger Things for teaching him the power of discretion, which made sure he didn't reveal too much too soon about his upcoming Star Wars movie.
"Stranger Things taught me to keep my mouth shut," Levy said in a new interview with Variety. "So I’m really grateful for that because I kept the Ryan Gosling news and the title and release date of my Star Wars movie pretty damn quiet for a long time. So I’m quite proud of myself and grateful to Stranger Things for making me shut my mouth."
Levy is an executive producer on Stranger Things, and he's directed eight episodes of the Netflix series. This includes season 4's 'Dear Billy,' which centers around Sadie Sink's character Max and features the show's iconic use of Kate Bush's 'Running Up That Hill.'
He's turning his sights to a new franchise with Star Wars: Starfighter, though, which will star Ryan Gosling in the lead role.
"It's probably framed my idea of what a movie even was," Gosling said when the movie's title and release date were confirmed at Star Wars Celebration 2025. "All of that aside, I think the reality is that this script is just so good. It has such a good story with great and original characters, it's filled with so much heart and adventure, and there just really is not a more perfect filmmaker for this particular story than Shawn."
Little else is known about the movie just yet, other than the fact that it "features a collection of all new characters," per Levy, and will be set after The Rise of Skywalker. Filming is set to start this fall.
Star Wars: Starfighter arrives in theaters on May 28, 2027. In the meantime, get up to speed with this year's best upcoming movies with our guide to the biggest movie release dates in 2025.
