Shawn Levy’s Starfighter Movie Could Lead To The Next Sequel Trilogy Starring Daisy Ridley’s Rey Skywalker

Almost seven years after the release of the final film in the Star Wars saga, The Rise of Skywalker, there are still no current or official active plans for a direct sequel trilogy, and there remains a long list of films that were planned, shelved, delayed, or even canceled.

While Disney+ shows have continued to keep the Star Wars universe at bay with new shows like Ahsoka, The Acolyte, and the upcoming Darth Maul: Shadow Lord, expanding the lore into new eras, there’s an intense online debate on whether the mouse house’s streaming platform is the right path for the future of Star Wars.

Looking ahead, Lucasfilm has two major big screen releases headed to theaters with The Mandalorian & Grogu set for a May 2026 release, followed by the Ryan Gosling-led Starfighter in 2027. This theatrical push will be crucial for the future of the franchise’s next big screen adventures. Some fans still feel that Star Wars should be “more of an event” by returning to a model with fewer releases, or by focusing on special theatrical events rather than a constant stream of new content, while others share the opposite approach. Whichever way Disney and Lucasfilm decides to go will come down to money in the end. It almost always does in the film industry.

So where do we go from here? Director Shawn Levy has emphasized that his upcoming Starfighter film “will not be a prequel or a sequel and will have no direct ties to the Skywalker Saga,” though some sequel trilogy characters may make cameos. This is where I believe that the direction of The New Jedi Order, starring Daisy Ridley as Rey Skywalker, will make a turn sometime in development and eventually spawn itself into the next sequel trilogy, using parts of storyline’s already written. Let me break it down for you, Starfighter is set only five years after the events of Rise of Skywalker and focuses on a young hotshot X-Wing pilot played by Gosling and his young nephew (Flynn Gray) who are hunted by two villains, one male and one female, while on a mission. It is suggested that the child may have Force abilities. It also remains to be seen if some remnants of the First Order still persist five years after Palpatine’s defeat. Certainly, it’s not the First Order that was wiped away after the Battle of Exegol. We may find that some traces of the First Order remain and have rallied around a surviving figurehead following or chosen Supreme Leader. This could be where the two antagonists that are reportedly chasing the two may come in.

All of this is to say that there’s likely to be a power struggle in the galaxy during the era of Starfighter, leaving ample room for the sort of epic space battles fans have come to expect. Given that the film is being billed as a standalone movie, I don’t necessarily see it ending without some kind of cliffhanger. This is where Ridley’s The New Jedi order movie comes into view.

Even though The New Jedi Order project has been put “on hold” for now, it could be because Lucasfilm has a a special plan for it. Remember, the film is set to take place about 15 years after The Rise of Skywalker, with Rey working to rebuild the Order. That’s ten years after Levy’s stand alone Starfighter film.

If you remember, in The Force Awakens when Rey finds Luke Skywalker on the planet Ahch-To, where he lives in self-imposed exile in a remote location, finding him on a cliffside and offering him his lightsaber. Keep this in mind because I hope you know where I’m going with this.

In the closing moments of The Rise of Skywalker it is revealed that Rey has a brand new yellow lightsaber she created, but what does this mean for the hero of the sequel trilogy? Rey’s Star Wars journey appeared to come to an end in the movie as she discovers her true heritage as a Palpatine, and showcases considerable new Force powers.

Remember, Rey has the Jedi books she took before Yoda destroyed the Jedi temple in order to reset Luke, and begins her own journey, taking on the name Skywalker. She is last seen with BB-8, preparing to leave Tatooine to potentially rebuild the Order. 

This leads me to believe, and it’s pure speculation filtered with rumors and online sources, that she finds a Jedi temple and rebuilds the Order by taking on the role similar to Luke Skywalker’s in the sequel trilogy.  She’s motivated not to fail unlike her Master Luke.

Online speculation and rumors also suggests, and reinforces my theory, that the upcoming Starfighter features Rey in a supporting role, potentially acting as a bridge to her own delayed film about rebuilding the Order. Then there’s the rumored claim that a key plot point in im the movie involves a young, Force-sensitive boy (Gray) who is being delivered to Rey. Which could ultimately position Starfighter as a standalone film that’s it’s billed as but ending up being the rocket that propels The New Jedi Order film being the first in a new sequel trilogy.

Since the director of Starfighter said it’s officially a standalone, it doesn’t mean it won’t have the child delivered to Rey in a scene reminiscent of The Force Awakens, with Rey walking over to the Gosling’s X-Wing and then rolling the end credits. Think about it, the Gray character that Gosling portrays is around fourteen years old, and the New Jedi Order movie is reportedly set around 10 years after. We could see a whole new Anakin and Obi-Wan type of Padawan and Master, as seen in Attack of the Clones, with Rey and Gray’s force-sensitive character, eventually setting up further films in the new sequel trilogy.

Of course, this is all speculation and rumors, but there’s a strong possibility that this is the direction Lucasfilm is going and the reason why Rey’s The New Jedi Order film may be on hiatus at this time. Time will tell, and I will for sure keep you up to date on any further details. Until then, “May the Force be with you….”