Star Wars: Starfighter Writer Appears to Shut Down a Major Fan Rumor

We have not been starving for Star Wars thanks to all the Disney+ shows, but the big screen has been quiet since 2019. That changes next year with The Mandalorian & Grogu, and then in 2027 with Shawn Levy and Ryan Gosling's Star Wars: Starfighter. If you heard the chatter that this one was secretly a Jedi party, the writer just poured cold water on that.

What Starfighter actually is

Set five years after The Rise of Skywalker, Starfighter is positioned as a pilots-and-dogfights story in a corner of the galaxy that does not run on the Force. Levy is directing, Ryan Gosling leads the cast, and filming has already wrapped. Levy even marked the occasion with a playful wrap photo that leaned into some Jedi-adjacent posing, which, given the current rumors, is kind of funny.

The Jedi rumor, and why it does not hold up

Last October, the rumor mill decided Starfighter would be loaded with Jedi. That never quite squared with how the movie has been framed, and now screenwriter Jonathan Tropper is basically saying as much. Talking to ScreenRant, he described the approach as not locked to past movie playbooks and made one point very clear:

'I think it is known that we have no legacy characters. You are not going to see any of the characters you have seen in the other movies. ... There are certain things that are still hallmarks of Star Wars that it is good to have in there. But more than that, I can not say.'

He also acknowledged that lightsabers exist in the universe (obviously), but between that and the no-legacy-characters line, it is hard to imagine a secret Jedi subplot waiting in the wings. This tracks with what Kathleen Kennedy said earlier this month before stepping down as Lucasfilm president: Starfighter was designed to be a real stand-alone.

So... no Jedi?

Do not expect anyone igniting a saber or moving crates with their mind. Could the Force get a nod in dialogue? Sure. But unless Lucasfilm pulls a last-minute twist, this one is aimed squarely at the fans who love X-wings screaming through space and pilots sweating it out in the cockpit.

If you want Jedi on the big screen

Separate rumors say Daisy Ridley's Rey could have a huge (but supporting) presence in a new trilogy Simon Kinberg is developing. And James Mangold wrote a script about the origins of the Jedi set 25,000 years before A New Hope, but per Kennedy, that project is on hold. In other words: Jedi movies are not gone, just not this one.

Quick hits

• Timeline: Star Wars returns to theaters summer 2026 with The Mandalorian & Grogu, followed by Star Wars: Starfighter on May 28, 2027.
• Setting: Starfighter takes place five years after The Rise of Skywalker.
• Team: Directed by Shawn Levy; written by Jonathan Tropper.
• Cast: Ryan Gosling, Flynn Gray, Matt Smith, Mia Goth, Aaron Pierre, Amy Adams, Simon Bird, Jamael Westman, Daniel Ings.
• Scope: No legacy characters; do not bank on Jedi or Force heroics.
• Status: Filming has wrapped. Levy has also been telling stories about notable visitors like Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise dropping by the set.