Shawn Levy Reveals Just How Lawless the Galaxy Gets in ‘Star Wars: Starfighter'

‘Star Wars: Starfighter’ has remained one of Lucasfilm’s most closely guarded upcoming projects since it was first announced, offering fans little beyond a director, a lead actor, and a release date to speculate about for well over a year. That silence made this year’s D23 presentation feel especially significant, particularly given the disappointing box office run ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ had earlier this summer, which left many wondering whether the franchise needed a genuine creative reset heading into its next chapter.

Director Shawn Levy and star Ryan Gosling delivered exactly that kind of reset attempt during Disney’s D23 Entertainment Showcase at the Honda Center, unveiling the first-ever footage from the film alongside new details about its setting and story. The exclusive teaser was shown only to the live audience and has since been scrubbed from social media after fan-captured clips briefly circulated online.

Speaking with Good Morning America following the reveal, Levy described the specific moment in Star Wars history the film is set within, explaining that it takes place during “a moment in the galaxy where there is no sort of government, enforcer or order.” He continued, “Everyone is just trying to survive, everyone is having to do what they have to do to get by,” painting a picture of a galaxy stripped of the usual structures audiences have come to expect from the franchise.

That lawless backdrop lines up with details Levy and Gosling shared on stage during the panel itself. According to StarWars.com, the film unfolds five years after the events of ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,’ placing it in a stretch of the timeline the franchise has never explored before on screen. Gosling plays Kade Auberon, a character he described during the panel as someone from the wrong side of the galaxy whose fate becomes intertwined with the fastest starfighter ever built.

The teaser itself reportedly opened with newcomer Flynn Gray’s character discovering a tarp-covered, decommissioned starfighter jet inside a rusty spaceship hangar, according to multiple outlets present at the event. That aircraft, known in-universe as the fastest ever built, appears to serve as the connective thread pulling Gosling’s Kade into the film’s central conflict.

Levy also used the moment to tie the project directly to Star Wars history on a symbolic level, noting that the film’s Memorial Day 2027 release lands on the same weekend the very first Star Wars movie opened fifty years earlier. He described drawing inspiration from American car culture and films like ‘The Outsiders’ and George Lucas’s own ‘American Graffiti’ while developing the project’s tone.

Beyond Gosling and Gray, the film’s ensemble includes Amy Adams, Matt Smith, Mia Goth, Aaron Pierre, Simon Bird, Jamael Westman, and Daniel Ings. Jonathan Tropper wrote the screenplay, with Levy producing alongside Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy under his own 21 Laps Entertainment banner.

Principal photography took place in the United Kingdom, beginning in August 2025 and wrapping later that winter, putting the film well into post-production ahead of its scheduled release. With ‘Star Wars: Starfighter’ set to arrive in theaters May 28, 2027, Levy’s description of a galaxy without government or order suggests Lucasfilm is aiming for a grittier, more grounded entry than fans have seen from the franchise in years, one that leans more heavily on survival and moral ambiguity than the light-versus-dark framing of past trilogies.