Photo Credit: Lucasfilm
As filming continues on Star Wars: Starfighter, director Shawn Levy has favorably compared the Lucasfilm blockbuster to one of the most influential sci-fi movies of all time.
What movie is Star Wars: Starfighter most like?
Levy’s latest Starfighter comments come from a recent interview he did with Collider to promote the fifth and final season of Stranger Things. When asked how Starfighter will fit into the existing Star Wars canon, Levy remarked, “Well, for one thing, it is different in that it is an all-new non-sequel, non-prequel adventure. It’s new characters, it’s a new timeline. It inherits legacy themes, but it’s really trying to give Star Wars [fans] — and just movie audiences — something fresh, something new. And with a spirit of play and big-hearted adventure with moments of real levity that, frankly, A New Hope had in a revolutionary way. We’re really trying to sort of take that tone as a North Star every day.”
George Lucas’ 1977 epic space opera, Star Wars, was a game changer for the sci-fi genre and the movie industry, introducing audiences to now fan-favorite characters like Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, and Han Solo. The movie shattered box office expectations to become the highest-grossing film of all time, a record it held for five years until E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
Levy continued to touch on how exciting it was to make something in the Star Wars franchise that wasn’t tied down or beholden to what came before it, adding, “But it’s a huge invigorating opportunity because Lucasfilm has been so encouraging of me doing something new. There’s no pressure to be derivative or limited by an obligation to what came before. There’s just a love of what came before.”
Officially announced at Star Wars Celebration Japan 2025, Star Wars: Starfighter reportedly centers around an uncle protecting his nephew from evil pursuers. Ryan Gosling headlines the upcoming blockbuster, with Flynn Gray, Matt Smith, Mia Goth, Aaron Pierre, Simon Bird, Jamael Westman, Daniel Ings, and Amy Adams rounding out the ensemble cast. Jonathan Trooper, who last worked with Levy on 2022’s The Adam Project, wrote the screenplay.
Star Wars: Starfighter is scheduled to hit theaters on May 28, 2027.
(Source: Collider)
