After his scene-stealing performance in “Barbie,” actor Ryan Gosling is entering a galaxy far, far away.
LucasFilm announced Friday the next installment of the “Star Wars” franchise, “Star Wars: Starfighter” with Gosling will hit theaters in May 2027. Shawn Levy will direct the film.
Appearing on stage before a lightsaber-waving crowd at Makuhari Messe center outside Tokyo, Japan, on Friday, Gosling shared a photo of his childhood bedsheets, plastered with illustrations from the space epic created by George Lucas.
“I guess I was dreaming about ‘Star Wars‘ even before I saw the film,” he said.
Levy, who also directed “Deadpool & Wolverine,” told the crowd that the new movie will not be a prequel or a sequel in the famous franchise but a new standalone adventure with new characters set several years after 2019’s “Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker.” Filming starts later this year, he said.
“I can’t say much about it because I understand the rules,” he added.
Only the title was shown on a giant screen, although that was enough for the crowd to burst into cheers.
Wearing a baseball hat with the slogan “Never Tell Me The Odds”, Gosling said: “I think it’s just exactly the advice that we need as we embark on this journey.”
The event, called Star Wars Celebration, which runs through Sunday, is full of “Star Wars”-themed merchandise including T-shirts, toys, books, manga comics, AC chargers, cellphone covers, autographs, posters and more.
The Lego booth featured a man wearing the ominous black mask and cloak of Darth Vader, made out of Legos. The deep-breathing villain also appeared as traditional Japanese lacquerware decorating earphones in a limited edition of 10, each selling for 990,000 yen ($7,000). Darth Vader T-shirts were more affordable at 8,000 yen ($56).
“It makes me so happy to think everyone here loves ‘Star Wars,'” said Yoshiki Takahashi, 26, who was holding a remote-controlled R2-D2 miniature robot.
“I love the directing, the sound of the gun and the lightsaber, but above all the story, with great fight scenes and, of course, human drama,” he added.
Another Japanese man, who said he goes only by Hiro, was dressed as the “Star Wars” character Mandalorian, in a detailed costume he made himself, complete with a plastic sword and armor.
Also present were “Star Wars” fans from around the world, including a robed Raul Herrera, a computer science teacher from Chile, who was there with friends.
“All of them,” said Herrera, when asked which ‘Star Wars’ films he’d seen. “The sense of commitment of the characters, I really like it.”
With offshoot stories spanning generations and literally the cosmos, “Star Wars” is one of the highest-grossing franchises of all time since its 1977 debut, starring Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker.
contributed to this report.
