STAR WARS: STARFIGHTER Director Says the Galaxy Has “No Governing Order” After THE RISE OF SKYWALKER

The First Order is gone, Emperor Palpatine has been defeated, and apparently nobody bothered to take charge of the galaxy afterward.

Shawn Levy has shared some interesting new details about Star Wars: Starfighter, revealing that the upcoming film will explore a chaotic corner of the Star Wars timeline five years after The Rise of Skywalker.

Unlike the aftermath of the original trilogy, there’s no New Republic waiting in the wings to restore order. This time, the galaxy has been left without anyone running the show.

Following the movie’s D23 presentation, Levy explained that the Battle of Exegol created a very different situation from the Empire’s defeat in Return of the Jedi. The Resistance may have helped bring down the First Order, but it apparently didn’t transform itself into a new galactic government.

That leaves Starfighter with a pretty fascinating playground, especially since this particular period of Star Wars history hasn’t previously been explored on screen.

Speaking with Fandango, Levy explained: "It's a period of time that's never been onscreen in any Star Wars story, and so to create that, to play around and explore what is the future of the Galaxy was incredibly fun.

“Our characters in Starfighter are on the wrong side of the Galaxy. It's about these sort of marginalised outsiders who find each other and have a shot at discovering heroism through their connections."

It sounds like Levy isn’t interested in immediately replacing the First Order with another giant political power. Instead, Starfighter will focus on people living out on the fringes and trying to make their way through a galaxy where stability isn’t guaranteed.

Levy has cited Francis Ford Coppola’s The Outsiders as part of the inspiration for the movie, particularly its working-class characters and focus on people living outside the comfortable parts of society.

As Levy put it: "[The characters are] doing the best they can in a chaotic galaxy that hasn't been explored,"

That idea also carries over to the larger political situation. In another interview with Good Morning America, Levy revealed just how fractured things have become following the events of The Rise of Skywalker:

"This is a moment in the galaxy where there is no sort of governing enforcer or order. And so everyone is just trying to survive, everyone is just trying to do their best to get by,"

That’s a pretty big change for the franchise. After Return of the Jedi, the Rebel Alliance helped establish the New Republic, which attempted to bring democracy and stability back to the galaxy. Unfortunately, the government became weighed down by bureaucracy and failed to recognize the First Order as the threat it would eventually become.

Palpatine, operating through Supreme Leader Snoke and the First Order, ultimately threw the galaxy back into war. Now that the First Order and Palpatine have been defeated, Starfighter finds ordinary people living with what came next, and it a little messy.

That concept will give the movie a flavor we haven’t seen much of in theatrical Star Wars. Rather than following Jedi, senators, royalty, or military leaders at the center of galactic events, Levy appears interested in characters who started with very little.

That includes Ryan Gosling’s Kade Auberon, who Levy describes as coming from "the wrong side of the Galaxy" and "did not grow up with a silver spoon in his mouth."

Levy further explained: "[He has] a little bit of an edge, a little bit of a working-class background, [and] comes from zero privilege," Levy noted. "He goes on an adventure that sort of intersects his fate with the fastest starfighter ever built."

A working-class Star Wars hero who has the fastest starfighter ever built? That sounds like it could be a lot of fun!

More importantly, the lawless state of the galaxy opens up all kinds of storytelling possibilities. Without a powerful central government keeping things together, planets and systems could be forced to fend for themselves.

Criminal organizations, local governments, mercenaries, pirates, remnants of the First Order, and entirely new factions could all be fighting for territory and influence.

It also makes Starfighter an important piece of the post-Skywalker Saga timeline. The movie won’t simply tell us what happened to one group of characters after The Rise of Skywalker. It will begin showing us what the galaxy itself became after decades of Republic, Empire, New Republic, and First Order rule.

Gosling leads the Starfighter cast alongside Flynn Gray (Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2), Matt Smith (House of the Dragon), Mia Goth (Maxxxine), Aaron Pierre (Lanterns), Simon Bird (The Inbetweeners), Jamael Westman (Hedda), Daniel Ings (Lovesick), and Amy Adams (Man of Steel).

Levy directs and produces the movie alongside Kathleen Kennedy, with Gosling, Dan Levine, Mary McLaglen, and Josh McLaglen serving as executive producers. Jonathan Tropper wrote the screenplay.

Star Wars: Starfighter is set to hit theaters on May 28, 2027.