The latest Star Wars movie, Star Wars: Starfighter, began rolling cameras in the United Kingdom Thursday, with Lucasfilm marking the occassion by unveiling the full cast.
Flynn Gray, Aaron Pierre, Simon Bird, Jamael Westman, Daniel Ings, and Amy Adams are the new additions on the call sheet for the Lucasfilm feature, which is being directed by Shawn Levy and stars Ryan Gosling. Mia Goth and Matt Smith were already revealed to be in the cast, playing villains.
“I feel a profound sense of excitement and honor as we begin production on Star Wars: Starfighter,” said Levy in a statement. “From the day Kathy Kennedy called me up, inviting me to develop an original adventure in this incredible Star Wars galaxy, this experience has been a dream come true, creatively and personally. Star Wars shaped my sense of what story can do, how characters and cinematic moments can live with us forever. To join this storytelling galaxy with such brilliant collaborators onscreen and off, is the thrill of a lifetime.”
Starfighter is a standalone film not connected to previous Star Wars movies or characters from the so-called Skywalker Saga, the films revolving around Luke Skywalker and his father, Anakin.
But there is, of course, the Star Wars timeline that must be followed, and Starfighter takes place approximately five years after the events of 2019’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
Gray is the big discovery, as the kid actor nabs the break of a lifetime to star alongside Gosling in a Star Wars feature. The script, penned by Jonathan Tropper and which, of course, is being kept under wraps, is said to see Gosling’s character protect a young charge from evildoers in a galaxy-spanning adventure. Actors Stateside and in the UK were in contention for months and months before casting Gray, who has appeared in one episode of Wednesday and an Irish crime show titled Borderline.
An almost equally healthy search was conducted for the actress to play his mother, a role which appears to have gone to Adams. (She worked with Levy on his 2009 movie Night at the Museum: Battle for the Smithsonian and starred in the Levy-produced sci-fi drama Arrival.) Lucasfilm did not reveal plot or character details in Thursday’s announcement.
Much of the supporting cast is British. Bird is known for his work on The Inbetweeners series and movies, while Westman appeared with Claire Danes in period mini-series The Essex Serpent. Ings is one of the stars of Guy Ritchie’s crime series The Gentlemen.
Pierre is already in the space business, as the star of DC Studios’ upcoming show Lanterns, and broke out with the Netflix hit Rebel Ridge.
Levy and Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy are producing. Executive producers are Gosling, Dan Levine, Mary McLaglen, and Josh McLaglen.
Starfighter will be released theatrically May 28, 2027.
