The Mandalorian and Grogu broke that duct, debuting in May of this year. However, the Jon Favreau-directed film wasn't the smash hit that Lucasfilm or Disney hoped it would be. The film took in less than $350 million at the worldwide box office, and was toppled by horror films like Obsession and Backrooms during its run in theaters.
Not only that, but many critics and fans labeled The Mandalorian and Grogu as a major disappointment, especially when judged as the first Star Wars movie to release this decade. It's a story starring two characters that, up until this point, had only ever appeared on Disney+. Moreover, Favreau confirmed that he developed the film's screenplay by adapting the scripts for The Mandalorian season 4, which he had already written. All of this led many to label The Mandalorian and Grogu as an extended episode of a television series rather than a full-blown theatrical adventure set in the world of Star Wars.
That's where the franchise's next feature film, Star Wars: Starfighter, comes in. Internal sources at Disney have reportedly stated that Starfighter is much more of a return to movie theaters for Star Wars than The Mandalorian and Grogu, although details are sparse on the film's story. However, screenwriter Jonathan Tropper recently spoke with Deadline and gave fans a few hints as to what to expect from Starfighter, describing it as "simpler" than previous films in the franchise. This simplicity is exactly what Star Wars needs right now, and Starfighter will benefit greatly from this change.
Star Wars: Starfighter Will Focus On Original Characters, Set Five Years After The Rise Of Skywalker
As stated, not much is known regarding the story of Star Wars: Starfighter. However, those that worked on the film, including star Ryan Gosling and director Shawn Levy (who will be working together once again on Marvel Studios' upcoming Ghost Rider film), have given tidbits of information regarding what to expect from Starfighter.
Levy revealed at Star Wars Celebration last year, which took place in Tokyo, Japan, that the film would follow Gosling's character and his nephew (played by Flynn Grey). More specifically, Gosling's hero, whose name has since been revealed to be Kade Auberon, will be escorting Grey's character across the galaxy. Although not officially confirmed, speculation is rampant that Grey's hero is Force sensitive, thus making him a potential candidate for Rey's Jedi academy.
That leads into another unique point that Starfighter has — its setting in the Star Wars timeline. The film takes place five years after the events of The Rise of Skywalker, a story which saw the First Order (and Emperor Palpatine) defeated for good. With the First Order gone, that (somewhat) negates the purpose of the Resistance, which screenwriter Tropper confirmed has been disbanded. Again speaking with Deadline, Tropper said the following:
This isn’t a Skywalker saga movie...we’re not dealing with the history of the Rebellion, the First Order, the Resistance or the Empire, we’re kind of beyond all that...it's a simpler movie.
A galaxy post the Rebellion, Resistance, First Order, and the Empire was teased in the brief trailer shown for Starfighter at Disney's D23 event earlier this month. The footage showed a young boy (Grey's character) walking into a shop before looking at a speeder. At that point, Gosling's Kade appears, telling the teenager that he shouldn't touch anything. Kade describes the speeder as the fastest starfighter ever built, and the footage then showed Gosling piloting a ship, along with troopers firing at him, and a look at some brand-new planets. That's what the galaxy is like after the events of The Rise of Skywalker, and it's what Starfighter's story will focus in on.
Starfighter’s Simplicity Is Its Strongest Weapon
It's the aforementioned simplicity of Starfighter that Tropper described that is its greatest strength. In recent years, as the franchise has pivoted to television, many of the shows have become too entrenched in Star Wars lore. The Mandalorian season 3 is a prime example of this, as the eight episodes featured so many callbacks and references to The Clone Wars and Rebels that the entire season became bogged down as a result. Season 3 essentially became a sequel to those shows, rather than continuing down the path that the first two seasons of The Mandalorian had set.
Ironically, the greatest strength of The Mandalorian season 1 was its simplicity. The story honed in on a bounty hunter and a child, and stayed there as it followed Din Djarin and Grogu on their journey across the galaxy. The show abandoning that simplicity in exchange for Clone Wars and Rebels references ultimately became its undoing.
Therefore, Star Wars has since lacked a movie or show that has had that level of simplicity (and approachability) as The Mandalorian season 1. Star Wars: Starfighter can be that film, allowing new audiences to engage with the franchise without needing to do too much homework beforehand.
Starfighter Should Still Focus On The Aftermath Of The Sequel Trilogy
Even as Starfighter is a simpler story, the film should avoid becoming too isolated. After all, this is the first live action story set after the events of Episode IX, which means it's in a unique position to address some of the aftermath of the sequel trilogy. That shouldn't be the film's only focus, but Starfighter's stakes would feel a lot higher if they highlighted what the galaxy is like after the sequels. Even as the First Order is gone, evil remains in the galaxy, and showing the different forms it has taken on would be an interesting story point for Star Wars: Starfighter.
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