First Sylvester Stallone, Now Mark Hamill: Why Legends Are Passing the Torch to Ryan Gosling for Their Billion-Dollar Franchise

Ryan Gosling just got the nod from Luke Skywalker. And Rambo. Not a bad week if you happen to be the guy fronting Disney's next Star Wars movie. Here's how that all shook out, plus what Star Wars: Starfighter actually is, who's in it, and why studios keep handing Gosling the keys to their biggest toys.

Mark Hamill gives Gosling his blessing (and zero notes)

At the SCAD Savannah Film Festival, Mark Hamill was asked about Ryan Gosling taking the lead in Star Wars: Starfighter, which hits theaters May 28, 2027. Hamill's take was basically: he's a fan, and he's not about to play coach.

I’ve been a fan of his and I became a super fan when he played Beavis on Saturday Night Live.

No, none of those people need advice from me. They’re doing so well. I had my time. I’m going to ask for advice from them.

Honestly, fair. Gosling's Beavis bit on SNL was ridiculous in the best way, and Hamill bowing out of the advice game is both gracious and very on-brand for a guy who's watched this franchise morph a dozen times.

Stallone: if anyone gets Rambo next, it's Gosling

This isn't the first time an icon has tapped Gosling as their heir apparent. On The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Sylvester Stallone said he'd happily hand Rambo to Gosling if the character ever gets re-cast. The two met at a dinner where Gosling outed himself as a childhood Rambo obsessive who used to show up to school dressed like the character, fully prepared to be clowned by his classmates.

I met him at a dinner, and obviously we’re opposites. He’s good-looking, I’m not. That’s how it works... If I ever passed the baton, I’ll pass it on to him, because he loves the character. I would say yes, but, I don’t know if anyone would say, Hey, he’s too good-looking to be Rambo.

Translation: Stallone knows the internet would roast the idea, but he also knows passion for the role counts. And Gosling has receipts.

Gosling's fan credentials: childhood bedsheets and a very bad Rambo idea

At April's Star Wars Celebration event in Tokyo, the stage screens flashed Gosling's childhood Star Wars bedsheets. He laughed and basically admitted he's been dreaming about this galaxy since before he understood what a movie even was.

You can see from the picture, I guess I was probably dreaming about Star Wars before I even saw the film. And it's probably framed my idea of what a movie even was.

As for Rambo: on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno years ago, Gosling told a story about seeing Rambo: First Blood, deciding he should probably be Rambo, and throwing steak knives (yep) at other kids using gear from his Fisher Price Houdini kit. He got suspended; his parents banned movies for a while. Do not try method acting at home, kids.

So what is Star Wars: Starfighter?

Director Shawn Levy made it simple at the Tokyo event where he first confirmed Gosling was starring:

Not a prequel, not a sequel, just gives us the Star Wars DNA that we love but with an adventure that’s all new. The movie is a new adventure. It’s new characters. It takes place in a new period of time after the Battle of Exegol, after Episode 9.

Production is moving. In September, Levy posted a first-look photo from set, teasing the location as 'somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea.' In the image: Gosling and child actor Flynn Gray. The cast is stacked elsewhere too: Amy Adams, Aaron Pierre, Simon Bird, Jamael Westman, Daniel Ings, Mia Goth, and Matt Smith are all aboard.

Star Wars: Starfighter lands in U.S. theaters on May 28, 2027.

Why studios keep calling Gosling

Gosling's never been a superhero guy (the genre keeps dancing around him, though Marvel has kicked the tires on him for various roles over the years, including, yes, early Doctor Strange chatter). He still keeps toggling between romance, action, comedy, and weirdo genre swings with ease. And lately, he brings audiences with him.

Barbie obliterated 2023 with $1.4 billion worldwide and a pile of Oscar nominations. Before that, Netflix's The Gray Man marked his first movie in four years and, despite rough reviews (46% on Rotten Tomatoes), it pulled in 88.55 million viewing hours in three days and became the streamer's fifth-best movie launch at the time, with a 90% audience score. Post-Barbie, The Fall Guy didn't hit pink-fueled heights, but it played great with critics and fans and is now his fourth-biggest box office performer.

Gosling's top 10 at the worldwide box office

1. Barbie (2023) - $1,447,138,421 | IMDb 6.8 | RT 88%
2. La La Land (2016) - $509,183,536 | IMDb 8.0 | RT 91%
3. Blade Runner 2049 (2017) - $277,937,605 | IMDb 8.0 | RT 88%
4. The Fall Guy (2024) - $181,073,291 | IMDb 6.8 | RT 82%
5. Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011) - $145,086,643 | IMDb 7.4 | RT 80%
6. Remember the Titans (2000) - $136,771,683 | IMDb 7.8 | RT 72%
7. The Big Short (2015) - $133,440,870 | IMDb 7.8 | RT 89%
8. The Notebook (2004) - $118,561,492 | IMDb 7.8 | RT 54%
9. First Man (2018) - $105,713,218 | IMDb 7.3 | RT 87%
10. Gangster Squad (2013) - $105,200,903 | IMDb 6.7 | RT 30%

What else he's up to

Gosling stars in and produces the film adaptation of Project Hail Mary, which is already in post-production. And while another big IP play (an Ocean's Eleven prequel) had reportedly circled him for a while, his schedule seems to have pushed that one toward other options. The point remains: the interest is constant.

He’s already passed the legacy test once

Gosling co-led Blade Runner 2049 with Harrison Ford, and Ford has been openly fond of that experience. He even brought up the day he accidentally decked Gosling while rehearsing a fight scene.

[We were rehearsing a fight] and we got too close and I hit him. I apologized right away. What more could I do? Can’t take back a punch. Just take it.

He’s a very handsome man. He’s still very handsome.

Ford also said he enjoyed making 2049 more than working on the original, crediting collaborators like Gosling. For a guy now headlining Star Wars and getting name-checked by Stallone for Rambo, that kind of endorsement is not nothing.

Bottom line

Gosling leading a new, post-Exegol Star Wars movie makes sense: he's a genuine fan, he can carry a four-quadrant hit without sanding off his weird edges, and the legends of two different franchises just gave him the thumbs up. Disney gets a fresh Star Wars adventure. We get Ryan Gosling in a flight suit. Everybody wins.

Thoughts on Hamill's comments and Gosling taking the controls in Starfighter? Drop them below. And yes, Star Wars: Starfighter is locked for May 28, 2027.