In April of 2025, /Movie reported that director Shawn Levy, the Hollywood journeyman behind “Massive Fats Liar,” “The Pink Panther,” “Actual Metal,” and “Deadpool & Wolverine,” might be overseeing a model new “Star Wars” movie referred to as “Star Wars: Starfighter.” Little is thought concerning the venture at this juncture, apart from it should star Ryan Gosling as a heretofore unknown character, and that it is going to be set after the occasions of “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.” The huge bulk of the “Star Wars” initiatives made by Disney since its acquisition of Lucasfilm in 2012 have been flashbacks, prequels, or interquels, so “Starfighter” would be the first “Star Wars” movie since 2019 to push the timeline ahead.
Mikey Madison, the Academy Award-winning star of Sean Baker’s “Anora,” was reportedly approached to play a task in “Starfighter” as properly. Evidently, she was being tapped to play the movie’s central villainess. Madison was a rising star when she appeared in “Anora,” having already starred within the 2022 model of “Scream” and in Quentin Tarantino’s “As soon as Upon a Time… in Hollywood.” Her first main function was enjoying Max in all 52 episodes of the 2016 collection “Higher Issues.” Madison, nevertheless, has all the time been cautious and picky about her roles, so she turned down the function in “Starfighter.” Her resolution was talked about in a latest report within the Hollywood Reporter, and plainly she wasn’t okay with the wage that Disney supplied her.
Nothing else is thought about “Starfighter” presently, and the teaser trailer that Disney confirmed on the Star Wars Celebration press occasion in 2025 (coated on the corporate’s web site) was merely an animated title display screen with a proposed launch date: Might 28, 2027. It’s going to comply with the discharge of “The Mandalorian & Grogu,” set to open on Might 22, 2026. A number of different “Star Wars” movies are within the improvement stage, however none of them but have a launch date.
Mikey Madison seemingly wished extra money
It must be acknowledged that “Star Wars” now not holds the enchantment that it did a few decade in the past. When “Star Wars: The Power Awakens” was launched in 2015, it toppled field workplace data, saying that “Star Wars” was again, child. It was the primary unique theatrical movie within the franchise since “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” in 2008, and audiences have been prepared for it. Disney introduced that they supposed to launch a significant “Star Wars” movie yearly. The odd-numbered years would function “official” chapters within the ongoing “Star Wars” saga, whereas the even-numbered years would function prequels, interquels, and different stand-alone initiatives. This was along with “Star Wars” exhibits on Disney+ and a brand new “Star Wars” space at Disneyland.
“Star Wars” overexposure took solely about 5 years. The market was flooded, and followers have been in a frenzy amid the oversaturation. It additionally did not assist that a number of of the franchise’s higher-profile initiatives have been simply plain terrible (“Solo,” “The Rise of Skywalker”) or at the very least controversial (“The Final Jedi”). Though many would possibly assume that an up-and-coming actress like Mikey Madison would possibly recognize the celebrity and publicity that showing in a “Star Wars” movie would possibly lend her, it is simply as secure to imagine that she’ll be ignored completely or, worse but, made the goal of a sexist on-line hate marketing campaign (ask Kelly Marie Tran about that).
So whereas the Hollywood Reporter stated that Madison turned down “Starfighter” due to cash, it is probably that she, a savvy businesswoman, was weighing the wage towards the grief and complications that may have most definitely include starring in “Star Wars.” If Disney wasn’t going to pay her sufficient to climate a tide of on-line abuse, then she was smart to stroll away. We’ll see if Levy and Gosling have the abdomen for it.
