Director Shawn Levy has been making the promotional rounds ahead of the long-awaited final season of Stranger Things, or at least Part One of it. Levy, who serves as an executive producer on the series, has directed episodes every season, including two in the batch that debuted just last night.
But as big as the Stranger Things finale is, there’s an equally exciting project on Levy’s horizon: his upcoming Star Wars film.
Levy has hinted before that the movie won’t simply echo what’s come before.
Instead, he’s aiming for something fresh, unexpected, and entirely his own within the galaxy far, far away.
As such, Levy fielded questions about Star Wars: Starfighter and admitted that while the film is striving for originality, it does have a similar tone to one of the original trilogy films.
Appearing on the On Film…With Kevin McCarthy Podcast, Levy stated, "Let me tell you something. People - I've not said this out loud because everyone's like 'Which Star Wars movie is Starfighter the most like? Which is the most inspired by?' If I'm being honest - I know the cool answer would be Empire, and sort of the inarguable answer would be A New Hope - but it's kinda [Return of the] Jedi."
"It's Jedi because of the combination of theme, levity, adventure, heart, spectacle. Somehow that movie just got it right for me. And I saw that movie so many times in a theater, more times in a theater than New Hope and Empire, and it stuck with me. I will tell you…there's moments where I'm on set, and I feel like that kid is with me, in the director's chair. Like I'm there making his dream come true."
The Star Wars talk starts at the [03:30 minute] mark in the video below.
Star Wars: Starfighter features a cast that includes Ryan Gosling, Flynn Gray, Matt Smith, Mia Goth, Aaron Pierre, Simon Bird, Jamael Westman, Daniel Ings, and Amy Adams.
Levy directs from a script penned by Trooper. Filming commenced on August 28, 2025, and the film has a current release date of May 28, 2027.
Gosling is said to be portraying a former X-wing pilot who must protect his Force-sensitive nephew when he becomes the target of dark side users/remnants of The First Order.
The film is said to be a chase/adventure-style story with Gosling racing to get his nephew to Rey's new Jedi Order Academy while being pursued by powerful forces.