Star Wars Is Officially Switching Casts For 2027 Return

In 2027, Star Wars is going to switch casts for the first time in over a decade thanks to an upcoming movie. Though the Star Wars galaxy is huge and there are thousands of characters living in it, the Star Wars movies typically follow the same small group of people. The original trilogy followed Luke, Han, Leia, and Lando, the prequels followed Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Padmé, and the sequels followed Rey, Finn, and Poe.

Even the supporting characters of Star Wars typically stay the same across movies. Luke, Leia, and Chewbacca show up in the sequels, Palpatine and Yoda are in all three trilogies, and Anakin and Obi-Wan show up in both the prequels and original trilogy. Even Star Wars shows typically center around characters that have been introduced in previous projects, like how Ahsoka follows a character from The Clone Wars and The Book of Boba Fett follows a character from the original trilogy.

There are a few exceptions to that rule, however. When a new trilogy begins, new characters get introduced. The prequels introduced characters like Qui-Gon Jinn, Mace Windu, and Padmé Amidala. The sequels, as well, introduced Rey, Finn, and Poe for the first time. While Star Wars isn’t starting a new trilogy, the upcoming movie Star Wars: Starfighter will be introducing a new cast to the franchise next year for the first time in over a decade.

Star Wars: Starfighter Will Feature All-New Characters

The next upcoming Star Wars movie after The Mandalorian and Grogu is Star Wars: Starfighter, and it’s set to hit theaters on May 28, 2027. Disney and Lucasfilm haven’t released much information about Starfighter so far beyond an early image of the movie and a vague plot synopsis. What the companies have confirmed, however, has also confirmed that Starfighter will feature an all-new cast of characters never seen in Star Wars before.

Some of the details about Starfighter‘s star-studded cast have already been confirmed. Ryan Gosling is presumably set to play the lead role, a currently unnamed pilot. Matt Smith, Mia Goth, Aaron Pierre, Amy Adams, and Flynn Gray are filling out the rest of the confirmed cast so far, and none of their characters have been named. These are all new faces with no confirmed characters tied to them, which means they’ll be playing new characters debuting in Starfighter.

Even Starfighter‘s place in the Star Wars timeline supports the idea that the film will have an all-new cast. Starfighter reportedly takes place in the immediate aftermath of The Rise of Skywalker and the sequel trilogy. It’ll be the furthest forward Star Wars has ever gone in its timeline. Since there are no existing stories from that time, there are very few possibilities for these actors to be playing existing characters. The vast majority of characters from the sequel era come from the live-action sequel films, and none of Starfighter‘s stars appeared in those movies.

There is a chance that some characters in Starfighter could be aged-up characters from Star Wars Resistance, but that chance seems rather slim. Resistance was notoriously unpopular and got canceled after just two seasons, so there’s not much value in bringing characters from the show like Kaz or Yeager back. Disney and Lucasfilm likely wouldn’t make more than a few characters come from Resistance, and almost certainly not Gosling’s character. It seems much more likely that Starfighter is developing an all-new cast.

Starfighter Is The First Star Wars Movie Focusing On New Characters Since Rogue One

Everything about Star Wars: Starfighter is pointing to it following an all-new cast of characters, which would make it the first Star Wars movie to do so since 2016’s Rogue One. Rogue One rather famously was the first Star Wars film to break away from the Skywalker Saga, and it did so by following members of the Rebellion like Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor as they fought to recover the plans to the Death Star.

Other Star Wars movies have also obviously introduced new characters, but very few of them center mainly around new characters. Solo: A Star Wars Story, for example, is based around Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Lando Calrissian, even though it introduced new figures like Tobias Beckett and Qi’ra. Even The Mandalorian and Grogu primarily centers around Din Djarin and Grogu, who first appeared in The Mandalorian years prior. That movie actually only introduced a handful of new characters, like Janu Coin and Colonel Ward.

While it was a direct prequel to A New Hope, Rogue One only briefly features pre-existing Star Wars characters. Darth Vader, Grand Moff Tarkin, Mon Mothma, and Princess Leia all only appear as supporting characters or as cameos. The majority of the movie is focused on characters that debuted in Rogue One itself. Luckily, Rogue One proved that moving away from legacy characters can work exceptionally well, so Star Wars: Starfighter has a great template to work off of.

Release Date

May 28, 2027

Director

Shawn Levy