Director Shawn Levy Celebrates the Completion of Star Wars: Starfighter Filming

STAR WARS: STARFIGHTER Director Shawn Levy Announces That Filming Has Wrapped With New BTS Photo

It’s official—Director Shawn Levy has announced the end of filming for his upcoming live-action standalone Star Wars: Starfighter, scheduled for a May 2027 release.

Levy shared the celebratory update via Instagram that read, “That’s a wrap! Headed into #Starfighter post-production like…” alongside a black-and-white behind-the-scenes photo of Levy himself running through a set that appears to be some sort of interior corridor or base.

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Previously, the filmmaker had shared a photo from the start of the shoot featuring lead actor Ryan Gosling and co-star Flynn Gray in costume on a boat “somewhere” in the Mediterranean Sea. While full plot details for the film are officially under wraps, we do know the story is set sometime after Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, featuring entirely new characters in an unexplored timeline.

Back in November, during an interview with On Film…With Kevin McCarthy, Levy revealed that the third act of Starfighter had to be reworked because the original idea “didn’t align,” but he found the new direction forced by the change led to a much better, more emotionally resonant ending for the film.

“We had a whole different idea for something in the third act, and then things didn’t align, and I was forced to come up with a new idea,” he said. “Every day I’m grateful that the way I was supposed to do it didn’t work out, because the new idea that it forced me to explore is so much better than the original idea would have been,” he added.

Levy describes his new Star Wars as a combination of A New Hope and Return of the Jedi’s unique blend of heartfelt storytelling and distinctive, tactile visual styles.

“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 kind of Jedi. It’s Jedi because of the combination of theme, levity, adventure, heart, and spectacle. Somehow, that movie just got it right for me. 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. There’s moments where I’m on set, and I feel like that kid is with me in the director’s chair. I’m there making his dream come true.”

Return of the Jedi is widely regarded as a satisfying, high-stakes conclusion to the original Star Wars, showcasing a grand adventure along with significant emotional beats. Levy will definitely have his work cut out for him if he wants to be near that level of moviemaking. For him, Jedi wasn’t just a favorite; it was the one he returned to constantly as a kid, and that nostalgia still followed him onto the set every day.

“I saw that movie so many times in a theater… and it stuck with me. There are moments when 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,” he said.

Although the filmmaker is aiming for that New Hope and Jedi feel, he’s also says that he’s insistent on making it something new and fresh.

“You want to get it right for the audience… Especially with Starfighter, it’s not a sequel. It’s not a prequel. It is not legacy characters, and it’s not in a period of time in the galaxy that’s ever been explored. I’m freaking determined not to let any of it feel derivative or lazily copycat.”

What’s next for Levy and crew? Well, they’ll be headed to the editing room to assemble the hours of shot footage, including the recently rewritten and reshot third act. The director hasn’t explicitly confirmed “pickup shots” using that exact term in recent announcements, but the need for reshoots or additional photography following a major story change is a standard part of large-scale film production. 

Alongside the previously mentioned Gosling and Gray, Starfighter boasts a star-studded supporting cast that includes Amy Adams, Aaron Pierre, Simon Bird, Jamael Westman, Daniel Ings, Mia Goth, and Matt Smith.

Thomas Newman is confirmed to be scoring the film with Special effects primarily handled by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). 

I myself am excited to see a fun, original new tale with an all new cast of characters set after the sequels. Levy’s aim to recapture the magic of my personal favorite Return of the Jedi honestly intrigues me. Can he pull it off? Can he bring the Star Wars magic back to the big screen? “Difficult to see; always in motion is the future,” Yoda would say.

May the Force be with you….