Star Wars: Starfighter at D23

During the Disney Studio Showcase panel at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, director Shawn Levy (Deadpool & Wolverine) and actor Ryan Gosling (Project Hail Mary) took to the stage with Lucasfilm co-president Dave Filoni to promote Star Wars: Starfighter.

“I owe a lot to Disney,” Gosling, a former member of the Mickey Mouse Club who is playing Kade Auberon, said. “Had they not looked far and wide and come to my hometown, I would not be here today. And now here I am 30 years later... I’m back, and it’s changing my life again.”

D23 attendees got an exclusive first look at the upcoming Star Wars movie along with its retro-inspired logo.

“I am so honored to release this film on the same weekend that the original film opened 50 years earlier,” Levy said.

Like Star Wars creator George Lucas, Levy was inspired by American car culture and films like The Outsiders and Lucas’ American Graffiti.

“Starfighter embodies the themes of hope, family and adventure that have always been core to Star Wars, but our story takes place in a period of time that has never been seen before, which has been a privilege to create and explore."

Star Wars: Starfighter, a standalone story set 5 years after Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, is due for release on 28th May 2027 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of George Lucas' space opera.

Are you looking forward to Star Wars: Starfighter? Let me know in the comments below.

Star Wars: Starfighter footage shown by Disney

During an Infinity Vision presentation in Barcelona, a certification program launched by the Walt Disney Company that verifies premium large format (PLF) cinema screens, Disney showed footage from Star Wars: Starfighter.

The footage was shown behind closed doors to industry professionals attending CineEurope.

Matt Smith, star of Doctor Who and House of the Dragon, has seen a rough cut of Star Wars: Starfighter and describes it as "absolutely blinding!"

According to a synopsis published on IMDb:

"In a rebuilding galaxy, a solitary pilot becomes entangled in a crucial mission as new threats emerge. Their journey may alter the future of the Force itself."

The upcoming film directed by Shawn Levy (Deadpool & Wolverine) stars Ryan Gosling, Flynn Gray, Matt Smith, Mia Goth, Aaron Pierre, Simon Bird, Jamael Westman, Daniel Ings, and Amy Adams.

Star Wars: Starfighter, a standalone story set 5 years after Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, is due for release on 28th May 2027 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of George Lucas' space opera.

Are you looking forward to Star Wars: Starfighter? Let me know in the comments below.

Star Wars: Starfighter alters the Force

Details regarding Star Wars: Starfighter remain scarce, but an intriguing plot description has emerged from a reliable source.

According to a synopsis published on IMDb:

"In a rebuilding galaxy, a solitary pilot becomes entangled in a crucial mission as new threats emerge. Their journey may alter the future of the Force itself."

The upcoming film directed by Shawn Levy (Deadpool & Wolverine) stars Ryan Gosling, Flynn Gray, Matt Smith, Mia Goth, Aaron Pierre, Simon Bird, Jamael Westman, Daniel Ings, and Amy Adams.

Star Wars: Starfighter, a standalone story set 5 years after Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, is due for release on 28th May 2027 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of George Lucas' space opera.

Are you looking forward to Star Wars: Starfighter? Let me know in the comments below.

Shawn Levy on Star Wars and AI

Director Shawn Levy spoke to Variety about editing Star Wars: Starfighter and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the creative process.

The much-anticipated standalone Star Wars movie set 5 years after Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, starring Ryan Gosling, Amy Adams, Matt Smith, Mia Goth and Aaron Pierre, doesn’t hit cinemas until 28th May, 2027. This coincides with the 50th anniversary of George Lucas' space opera.

“I’m in the beautiful sanctity of the edit room,” Levy said at the Breakthrough Prize Ceremony. “We don’t come out until next year, and so it’s a rare movie where I don’t have a release date looming. So I’m in the dark quiet of the edit room, finding the best possible shape for the film.”

From the sound of it, AI will not be a significant tool in finding that shape. “To date, I’ve not incorporated AI in any meaningful way in any phase of my storytelling process, but I have no doubt that in the course of my career we will see its integration,” Levy said.

A prolific director and producer, Levy’s projects have included Stranger Things, Deadpool & Wolverine, Free Guy and The Adam Project.

“To the point that many smarter people than I have made, it’s about integrating these technologies responsibly and with still the primacy of the creative voice and not a potential replacement for that voice because I think that what you get from creative voice and vision is singular and irreplicable, but if we can use these emerging AI capacities to support storytelling in still a kind of creative and human first workflow then I think it’s something to embrace, not fear.”

Regulation is key, Levy said. “I spend a part of every day trying to increase my fluency around the regulatory options surrounding [AI],” he said. “I think it’s going to be essential, but I think to hide our heads in the sand and pretend that it’s not going to be not just an emergent but an essential part of our lives, not just filmmaking lives, [but] lives, I think that would be naive and foolish.”

Are you looking forward to Star Wars: Starfighter? Let me know in the comments below.

Ryan Gosling teases Star Wars: Starfighter

While promoting Project Hail Mary on BBC Radio, Ryan Gosling shared a story from the set of Star Wars: Starfighter.

“There is a thing that happened on Star Wars — I’m going to have to tread carefully — but I went to the creature shop early to see everything that they were building so that I could find ways to interact with them in the film because I didn’t want them to just be going by in the background,” Gosling said.

“And I found one very special one that was meant to be background, and I asked if I could have a scene [with it], and it ended up being one of the most fun scenes I’ve ever done.”

Gosling revealed: “As my wrap present, they made me a model. And so I have it in my house now.”

The upcoming film directed by Shawn Levy stars Ryan Gosling, Flynn Gray, Matt Smith, Mia Goth, Aaron Pierre, Simon Bird, Jamael Westman, Daniel Ings, and Amy Adams.

Star Wars: Starfighter, a standalone story set 5 years after Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, is due for release on 28th May 2027 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of George Lucas' space opera.

Are you looking forward to Star Wars: Starfighter? Let me know in the comments below.

Star Wars: Starfighter first look

Director Shawn Levy (Deadpool & Wolverine) has revealed the first look at Star Wars: Starfighter, starring Ryan Gosling (Barbie) and newcomer Flynn Gray. Filming is underway on the Mediterranean Sea, and I'm reminded of Waterworld.

For half a decade, Star Wars has been on the small screen with animated and live-action spin-off series on Disney+. The Mandalorian and Grogu, based on the fan-favourite characters from The Mandalorian, will be in cinemas next year. While it's directed by Jon Favreau (Iron Man), will it be more than a feature-length episode that should have been released on Disney+?

Star Wars: Starfighter, a standalone story set 5 years after Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, is due for release on 28th May 2027 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of George Lucas' space opera.

Are you looking forward to Star Wars: Starfighter? Let me know in the comments below.

Star Wars: Starfighter begins filming

Today, to mark the start of production on Star Wars: Starfighter, Lucasfilm has announced the full cast for the upcoming feature film from Shawn Levy (Deadpool & Wolverine).

Joining the previously announced Ryan Gosling, the film stars Flynn Gray, Matt Smith, Mia Goth, Aaron Pierre, Simon Bird, Jamael Westman, Daniel Ings, and Amy Adams.

“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.”

Star Wars: Starfighter, a standalone story set 5 years after Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, is due for release on 28th May 2027 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of George Lucas' space opera.

For half a decade, Star Wars has been on the small screen with animated and live-action spin-off series on Disney+. The Mandalorian and Grogu, based on the fan-favourite characters from The Mandalorian, will be in cinemas next year. While it's directed by Jon Favreau (Iron Man), will it be more than a feature-length episode that should have been released on Disney+?

Are you looking forward to Star Wars: Starfighter? Let me know in the comments below.

Matt Smith to play villain in Star Wars

Former Doctor Who star Matt Smith, after being rumoured for a role as a young Palpatine in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, joins Ryan Gosling and Mia Goth in Shawn Levy's Star Wars: Starfighter.

According to Deadline, Smith will play a villain in the upcoming Star Wars movie, set for release in 2027 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of George Lucas' space opera. Smith, best known for playing the heroic Eleventh Doctor, is no stranger to playing villains in Terminator Genisys and House of the Dragon.

As a lifelong Doctor Who and Star Wars fan, I’m more excited for Star Wars: Starfighter than The Mandalorian and Grogu, which should have been released on Disney+.

What are your thoughts on Matt Smith playing a big bad in a galaxy far, far away? Are you excited for Star Wars: Starfighter? Let me know in the comments below.

Blade Runner 2099 greenlit by Amazon

Not content with making the most expensive streaming series ever made in the form of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (exclusively on Amazon Prime), Amazon Studios is producing a Blade Runner series set 50 years after Blade Runner 2049.

“We recognise that we have a very high bar to meet with this next instalment [sic],” Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson, co-CEOs and co-founders of Alcon, said in a statement. “Together with Silka and our partners at Amazon, and Scott Free Productions, we hope that we can live up to that standard and delight audiences with the next generation of Blade Runner.”

Amazon Studios’ head of global television, Vernon Sanders, says Sir Ridley Scott’s (Alien) original 1982 film is one of the greatest and most influential sci-fi movies of all time.

“We are honoured to be able to present this continuation of the Blade Runner franchise, and are confident that by teaming up with Ridley, Alcon Entertainment, Scott Free Productions and the remarkably talented Silka Luisa, Blade Runner 2099 will uphold the intellect, themes and spirit of its film predecessors,” Sanders said.

Personally, I loved Blade Runner 2049 as evidenced in my review of director Denis Villeneuve's (Dune) superlative sequel to Scott's Blade Runner. There were tears of joy in the rain.

Are you looking forward to Blade Runner 2099? Let me know in the comments below.

Blade Runner 2049 is an existential masterpiece

Director Denis Villeneuve's follow-up to Ridley Scott's seminal tech noir opus Blade Runner is a transcendental sequel that brings the cerebral to Hollywood.

If you're looking for high-octane action; you would do well to look elsewhere. Villeneuve artfully unpacks the enigmatic core of the original Blade Runner at a languid pace, befitting a transformative museum tour, that respects the source material and audience's intelligence in Blade Runner 2049.

Villeneuve presents a central protagonist, Officer K (Ryan Gosling), who embarks on a rerun of Rick Deckard's (Harrison Ford) mission to retire a replicant 30 years later. This blade runner is in a romantic relationship with a holographic personal assistant called Joi (Ana de Armas) that recalls Samantha (Scarlett Johansson) in Spike Jonze's Her.



Ultimately, K's journey is a Pinocchio parable as explored in Steven Spielberg's A.I. Artificial Intelligence and that's not the only reference to the late Stanley Kubrick as fans will discover.

Harrison Ford reprises a fan-favourite role a la Star Wars: The Force Awakens. However, all I'll say is that his performance as an ageing Deckard is mesmeric and a career-high. Robin Wright, Sylvia Hoeks and Jared Leto are all phenomenal. Hoeks bears an uncanny resemblance to Sean Young who played Rachael in the original Blade Runner.



Sweeping vistas are wrapped in an industrial soundscape with callbacks to the original score, composed by Vangelis, and Sergei Prokofiev's childhood classic Peter and the Wolf.

It's a treatise on existentialism in a neon-drenched dystopia and a heartbreaking love story between an android and an app achingly distilled by Ryan Gosling and Ana de Armas.

Blade Runner 2049 left me melancholy and, conversely, optimistic by its enchanting end. Amidst the deafening roar of nihilistic blockbusters, there are compelling stories of the human condition being told like in fairytales of old. That's worth tears in the rain.

Blade Runner 2049 prequel starring Dave Bautista

Warner Bros. has released the second of three prequels to Blade Runner 2049.

The short film follows Sapper Montan (Dave Bautista) a replicant on the run. 2048: Nowhere to Run is the second of three short films that will fill in the timeline between the original Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049 starring Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling.



This is the official synopsis for Blade Runner 2049:

"Thirty years after the events of the first film, a new blade runner, LAPD Officer K (Ryan Gosling), unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what’s left of society into chaos. K’s discovery leads him on a quest to find Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), a former LAPD blade runner who has been missing for 30 years."

Blade Runner 2049 is in theatres 6th October.

Blade Runner 2049 prequel starring Jared Leto

Blade Runner 2049, a sequel to director Ridley Scott's iconic Blade Runner starring Harrison Ford, is released in theatres this October with Ford reprising the role of Rick Deckard alongside Ryan Gosling as LAPD Officer K.

Collider has posted an exclusive prequel short film starring Jared Leto (Requiem for a Dream) playing Niander Wallace. 2036: Nexus Dawn is one of three short films that will fill in the timeline between the original Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049.



This is the official synopsis for Blade Runner 2049:

"Thirty years after the events of the first film, a new blade runner, LAPD Officer K (Ryan Gosling), unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what’s left of society into chaos. K’s discovery leads him on a quest to find Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), a former LAPD blade runner who has been missing for 30 years."

Blade Runner 2049 is in theatres 6th October.

Blade Runner 2049 gives a knowing wink to Star Wars

Ridley Scott's second foray into sci-fi was Blade Runner. An enigmatic film noir touchstone possessing a visual flair much copied and unmatched since its original release in 1982.

Scott's dystopian vision was the antithesis of the summer blockbuster with Harrison Ford, famous for Star Wars and Indiana Jones, playing Rick Deckard. A police officer charged with hunting down replicants. All the while possibly a replicant himself. Because unicorn.

The prospect of a sequel left me cold until the latest trailer for Blade Runner 2049 dropped with Ford reprising the role opposite Ryan Gosling.

The tone is pitch perfect and lush visuals promise to be as memorable as those seen in the original. The minimalist approach evokes Stanley Kubrick (2001: A Space Odyssey). At least it's a feast for the eyes and listen out for the Star Wars in-joke from The Empire Strikes Back.



If you've never seen the original Blade Runner. May I suggest The Final Cut from 2007.

Looking forward to Blade Runner 2049 this October? Let me know in the comments below.