Star Wars: Starfighter faced an unexpected casting challenge besides securing Ryan Gosling. The upcoming film stars Gosling and Flynn Gray in a post-Rise of Skywalker world.
What Star Wars: Starfighter casting choice was crucial to get right?
Carmen Cuba is a co-casting director on Star Wars: Starfighter. In a recent interview with Collider, she opened up about casting Flynn Gray as the main character. Cuba noted that casting children in lead roles is challenging, as it demands stamina, and productions can’t afford to have them struggling on set.
When asked what challenges Cuba faced when casting the film, she said, “I would say that, actually, Nina Gold and I cast the next Star Wars that’s coming out, Starfighter, and I would say that our work on the kid lead in that, I’m impressed with what we did because it’s a big movie. It’s Ryan Gosling. Everything’s sort of weighing on all the choices you make in that movie. Once again, we had a kid, and you have to keep imagining that you can find this magic in the same way that she found on Game of Thrones and I found on Stranger Things, and I’ve got to say, we did it. It was hard. That search was hard.”
Cuba added that the casting process was especially difficult as it was the last Star Wars film overseen by Kathleen Kennedy. “It was just such a big part,” she said. “Also, it’s Star Wars, and it’s a movie, and it’s the first one in a long… Obviously, there’s Mandalorian [and Grogu] now, but there was just a lot of pressure.”
Gray was previously seen in Showkids, Wednesday, Borderline, Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2, and more. According to a previous report, Gray plays Ryan Gosling’s nephew in the film. Plot details for Star Wars: Starfighter remain under wraps. The film reportedly follows Gosling and Gray on a galactic journey evading Mia Goth’s character, who allegedly plays a “lightsaber-wielding mercenary”.
Aside from Gosling, Gray, and Goth, the film also includes Aaron Pierre and Amy Adams, the latter rumored to be playing the force-sensitive mother of Flynn Gray’s character. The film is directed by Shawn Levy from a screenplay by Jonathan Tropper.
Star Wars: Starfighter will be released in theaters on May 28, 2027.
Originally reported by Rahul Majumdar on SuperHeroHype.com.
