Ryan Gosling in Talks for Shawn Levy’s ‘Star Wars’ Movie

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Ryan Gosling at the Oscar Nominee Luncheon held in the International Ballroom at the Beverly Hilton on Monday, February 12, 2024. The 96th Oscars will air on Sunday, March 10, 2024 live on ABC. Credit/Provider: Mike Baker / ©A.M.P.A.S. Copyright: ©A.M.P.A.S.

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Ryan Gosling is in talks for a new ‘Star Wars’ movie.
‘Deadpool & Wolverine’s Shawn Levy is directing.
Details on the film are scant right now.

What a difference a ‘Deadpool’ makes.

In this case, we mean ‘Deadpool & Wolverine,’ which has earned more than $1.33 billion worldwide and helped turn Marvel’s fortunes around while boosting Disney’s box office to a great degree last year.

That movie’s director, prolific filmmaker/producer Shawn Levy, is naturally now of great value to the studio, so his other projects based there are getting renewed attention.

And one of them, set in that particular galaxy far, far away, just got an A-list shot in the arm, as Ryan Gosling is, according to The Hollywood Reporter, in talks to star for Levy in his ‘Star Wars’ movie.

What’s the story of Shawn Levy’s ‘Star Wars’ movie?

Shawn Levy attends the UK Fan Event of Marvel Studios’ ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ at Eventim Apollo, London on July 11th, 2024. Photo by StillMoving.Net for The Walt Disney Company Limited.

As with most things in development under the Lucasfilm banner, details are scarce. We do know that Levy, despite being seemingly busy with 500 different projects at once (including the aforementioned ‘Deadpool’ movie and producing/directing duties on the final season of ‘Stranger Things’ to name just two) has been developing his untitled ‘Star Wars’ movie since at least 2022.

Jonathan Tropper, who collaborated with Levy on films such as ‘This is Where I Leave You’ and ‘The Adam Project,’ has been working on a script for over a year. Levy is also producing the feature via his 21 Laps banner, joining ‘Star Wars’ steward and Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy.

The time period for the potential new offering is unknown, though it reportedly charts its own course and doesn’t feature anyone from the Skywalker saga, with the emphasis on this being a standalone adventure.

If Gosling’s deal closes, the hope is to have the new movie shooting in the fall, which means Levy would likely press pause on working on the planned boyband comedy that his usual Ryan –– that would be Reynolds –– has been developing. Still, given Levy’s work ethic, we wouldn’t be surprised if he knocked that out this summer before diving into ‘Star Wars.’

Of course, for now, it’s all unofficial, with neither Lucasfilm nor Disney offering comment, but with Star Wars Celebration set for April this year in Tokyo, we could see more solid news then.

What else does Ryan Gosling have going on?

Ryan Gosling is Colt Seavers in 'The Fall Guy,' directed by David Leitch. © Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.

Gosling, who was one of the key elements in 2023’s monster hit ‘Barbie’ had a slightly less successful 2023, as romantic action comedy ‘The Fall Guy’ –– which was perfectly entertaining in our opinion –– failed to land at the box office and only earned $181 million from a $125 budget.

He’ll be back on our screens next year in another space-based project, as he’s in the lead in ‘Project Hail Mary,’ the latest film adapted from the work of ‘The Martian’s Andy Weir, with Phil Lord and Chris Miller directing from a script by ‘Martian’ man Drew Goddard.

That one errs more towards the sci-fi than space opera, featuring an astronaut who has to try and save the planet. It’ll arrive on May 20th, 2026.

Behind the camera, Gosling is an executive producer on a Donald E. Westlake adaptation called ‘The Actor,’ though that movie has yet to land a release date.

And oddly, Gosling’s name has been linked with ‘Star Wars’ in the past, when rumors spread online in 2013 that he and Zac Efron were being eyed by ‘The Force Awakens’ filmmaker J.J. Abrams for a part that may have eventually become Kylo Ren (as played in the sequel trilogy by Adam Driver).

What else is in development for big screen ‘Star Wars’?

(L to R) Director James Mangold, Dave Filoni, and director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy at Star Wars Celebration 2023.

Jon Favreau’s ‘The Mandalorian & Grogu’ is first among ‘Star Wars’ equals right now, having shot last year and now speeding through post-production for a release next year.

‘Mandalorian’ co-creator and fellow steward Dave Filoni is still putting the pieces together for his own film, while one that continues the story of Rey (Daisy Ridley) is in development from director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy but appears to keep hitting stumbling blocks and has been removed from the schedule for now.

And then there’s James Mangold’s film, which explores the origins of the Jedi and early force users and is awaiting a release date.

We’d guess that while Filoni (who promoted earlier this year to Chief Creative Officer at Lucasfilm) is still going full speed ahead on his movie, he’s also been busy figuring out a second season of ‘Ahsoka.’

Here’s what he said about that:

“I’m so well into that as well… I’ve been writing it, and I’m still the single writer on it, and so I’ve been enjoying doing that, but it’s a challenge, of course, and working some of these arcs through has been a challenge and making sure it’s all going to come out in a way that I think is exciting for fans. I know that they’re interested in where some of the things I developed in Season One. I’m pretty happy with it… Love working with Rosario [Dawson], so I can’t wait to get back to that.”

Beyond those, there are several movies (and potential trilogies) which don’t seem to be moving forward and may have been scrapped altogether, including new potential movies from ‘The Last Jedi’s Rian Johnson (who is busy with his ‘Knives Out’ movies and may not wish to dip back into the toxic stew of ‘Star Wars’ fandom after the divisive reaction to his first effort) and ‘Wonder Woman’s Patty Jenkins, who had a much-touted ‘Rogue Squadron’ story of rebel pilots that appears to have had trouble leaving the development hanger.

When will the next ‘Star Wars’ movie be in theaters?

(L to R) Dave Filoni, Chief Creative Officer, Lucasfilm and Jon Favreau appears at the Disney Entertainment Showcase at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event in Anaheim, California on August 09, 2024. Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney.

So far, only ‘The Mandalorian & Grogu’ has a confirmed release date, that being May 22nd, 2026.

Disney and Lucasfilm do have an untitled ‘Star Wars’ movie on their release calendar for December 17th, 2027, so if the Levy film does hit lightspeed, chances are it could fly into that slot.