Star Wars: Starfighter release date, cast, plot, and more news

Ryan Gosling and Flynn Gray in Star Wars: Starfighter
(Image credit: Shawn Levy)

Star Wars: Starfighter is on the way, though, at the moment, it's still pretty much shrouded in mystery. But, we do know enough to start getting excited about this particular adventure through the galaxy far, far away.

The film was officially announced at Star Wars Celebration 2025 after plenty of reports it was happening. Deadpool & Wolverine director Shawn Levy and star Ryan Gosling took to the stage in Tokyo to hype up the crowd and confirm they were indeed blasting off together. Then, the first look at the movie was unveiled, along with a handful of new cast members. Plus, we have another look at the movie from the set, too. But more on that below.

Starfighter is the next Star Wars film after The Mandalorian & Grogu releases next May, and it will take us past The Rise of Skywalker for the first time on screen (an upcoming novel will be the first Star Wars project to be set after Episode 9). Right here, we've got everything you need to know about Star Wars: Starfighter, from the release date to the cast and what's known about the plot so far. This is the guide you're looking for…

Star Wars: Starfighter release date

Shawn Levy speaking into a mic

(Image credit: Tommaso Boddi/Getty Image)

Starfighter will be released on May 28, 2027, as announced at Star Wars Celebration 2025. That makes it the next Star Wars movie after The Mandalorian & Grogu, and the second Star Wars film to be released after The Rise of Skywalker wrapped up the Skywalker Saga back in 2019.

And, as confirmed by StarWars.com, Starfighter is officially in production in the UK.

Is there a Star Wars: Starfighter trailer?

Ryan Gosling as Ken in Barbie

(Image credit: Warner Bros.)

At the moment, it's too early for a Starfighter trailer – the movie hasn't even started filming yet. We can probably expect a teaser around a year out from the film releasing, though there's no guarantee: we're under a year away from The Mandalorian & Grogu, and there's still no publicly available trailer (though footage has been shown behind closed doors).

Whenever a trailer does arrive, it's likely to debut at a large event like D23, SDCC, or even the Super Bowl. The next Star Wars Celebration is April 2027, a month before the film is due to be released, so we can expect to hear more about it then, too.

What we do have though, is some pictures from the set, which you can see below. In the first, which was also the movie's first look, Ryan Gosling and Flynn Gray pose with a speeder of some kind. In the second, we see both actors in costume, this time at sea. So, they're not giving much away just yet.

Star Wars: Starfighter cast

Daemon in House of the Dragon season 2

(Image credit: HBO)

So far, Starfighter has multiple confirmed cast members. These are:

  • Ryan Gosling
  • Mia Goth
  • Matt Smith
  • Flynn Gray
  • Aaron Pierre
  • Simon Bird
  • Jamael Westman
  • Daniel Ings
  • Amy Adams

Nothing is known about their roles just yet, but we can expect Mia Goth to play a villain, while Smith is also reportedly playing "the next great villain" in Star Wars.

Star Wars: Starfighter plot

Ryan Gosling in a stunt for The Fall Guy

(Image credit: Universal Pictures)

The Starfighter plot is so far shrouded in mystery, but we do know a bit about the new movie. For one thing, it will take place after The Rise of Skywalker, with StarWars.com confirming the movie is set "approximately five years" later. In August, the site added that Starfighter is "an all-new standalone adventure" and is "an entirely original story set in a period of time never before explored in Star Wars."

That tracks with something Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy had previously revealed about the movie. "It's all post-[the first] nine. Shawn's is a standalone Star Wars story that'll take place post-nine, maybe five or six years out," she told Deadline.

"And Mandalorian really stands on its own because there, we're dealing with a whole other era in the New Republic. We have other development going on in that space as well. So that's the space that we’re pretty much focused on right at the moment, because obviously, with Mandalorian, we have a pretty good sense of where that's going. And with this, it's all pretty much new characters. We may bring some of the characters back from the sequel saga, but pretty much new characters."

At Star Wars Celebration 2025, director Shawn Levy also said the movie "features a collection of all-new characters." And, judging by the title – and the fact that Levy and star Ryan Gosling stood in front of an X-wing on stage at the Celebration showcase – the film will have something to do with space flight.

"It's probably framed my idea of what a movie even was," Gosling said at Star Wars Celebration. "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."


And that's a wrap on Star Wars: Starfighter. For even more, check out our guide to all the upcoming Star Wars movies and shows for everything else the galaxy far, far away has in store for us.

Molly Edwards
Deputy Entertainment Editor

I'm the Deputy Entertainment Editor here at GamesRadar+, covering all things film and TV for the site's Total Film and SFX sections. I previously worked on the Disney magazines team at Immediate Media, and also wrote on the CBeebies, MEGA!, and Star Wars Galaxy titles after graduating with a BA in English.

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