With Star Wars: Starfighter, the beloved franchise is shattering a long-standing tradition by introducing a villain unlike anything seen before in the saga's history. The upcoming film, directed by Shawn Levy and starring Ryan Gosling, is set in the aftermath of The Rise of Skywalker and follows an entirely new cast of heroes and villains. Slated for release during Memorial Day Weekend 2027, it arrives one year after The Mandalorian and Grogu, which brought Star Wars back to the big screen for the first time in seven years.No actor in the franchise's roughly fifty-year history has been officially cast as a villain in a Star Wars film, had that role cut before anything was shot, and then returned as a completely different villain in a completely different film. Until Starfighter.Matt Smith (Morbius, House of the Dragon) was initially cast in a major role in Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker, which was made "obsolete" before filming began. Smith also described the abandoned villain as a "transformative Star Wars story detail" and a "big shift in the history of the [Star Wars] franchise." Read full article on The Direct.