LOS ANGELES, Aug. 16 -- Ryan Gosling has done something unexpected since wrapping Barbie: he is going to a galaxy far, far away. Lucasfilm announced at D23 2026 that Gosling will play Kade Auberon, a Jedi starfighter pilot, in Star Wars: Starfighter, an entirely original story with no direct lineage in the existing saga timeline. The film opens May 28, 2027.

That decision to build a new story around a character nobody has met yet is the bet Lucasfilm is making after years of prequel spinoffs, anthology films, and nostalgia-driven sequels. Starfighter will not revisit Skywalkers or Sith lords the franchise has already chronicled. It will ask audiences to invest in someone new. The last time Lucasfilm took that kind of swing, it gave the w...