One upcoming Star Wars film, Star Wars: Starfighter, seems to be copying The Mandalorian season 3’s best retcon trick. The Star Wars: Starfighter movie was first announced at Star Wars Celebration 2025 and is set to be directed by Shawn Levy with Ryan Gosling in the starring role. The upcoming Star Wars movie will be the second since The Rise of Skywalker after 2026’s The Mandalorian and Grogu, with a provisional release date set for May 28, 2027.
The movie will apparently be set in the sequel era of the Star Wars timeline, five years after The Rise of Skywalker, and focus primarily on the тιтular aspect of the franchise. Therefore, audiences can expect a lot of starfighter aspects, be they ship chases or dogfights, marking a big difference from the Force-based stories of the Skywalker Saga. What makes this overall concept all the more interesting is how it links to another Star Wars movie and The Mandalorian season 3, with a neat retcon trick employed by the latter linking Star Wars: Starfighter to the former.
The Mandalorian Season 3 Retconned Rangers Of The New Republic Into Its Story
As WIll Another Upcoming Star Wars Movie
Firstly, it is worth exploring the retcon trick in question and how The Mandalorian season 3 utilized this. After the success of The Mandalorian, Lucasfilm initially announced several spin-offs, one being тιтled Rangers of the New Republic. After troubles with the expected star Gina Carano that resulted in her being fired by Lucasfilm, the show was placed on hold. Rather than be scrapped entirely, though, it became clear by the time of The Mandalorian season 3’s ending that elements from Rangers of the New Republic were incorporated into the former.
Another upcoming Star Wars story, The Mandalorian and Grogu, is set to continue this. Rangers of the New Republic was seemingly going to be about the тιтular heroes, like Carano’s Cara Dune and Paul Sun-Hyung Lee’s Carson Teva, investigating the rise of Imperial remnants in Star Wars’ New Republic timeline. In The Mandalorian season 3, Din Djarin took the spot of Cara Dune as an unofficial aid of the New Republic Rangers in hunting down Imperial warlords. This will continue in The Mandalorian and Grogu, completely retconning the canceled Star Wars show into Din Djarin’s franchise.
Star Wars: Starfighter Looks To Be Replacing A Canceled Star Wars Movie
Following In The Mandalorian’s Footsteps
Jenkins was caught up developing Wonder Woman 1984 and a potential sequel for the DCEU. When the DCEU became the DCU, though, Jenkins’ schedule was freed up. Nonetheless, little has been mentioned about Rogue Squadron in the meantime, with a script never being delivered to Lucasfilm by Jenkins.
Starfighter will also be mostly standalone from the Skywalker Saga and feature an entirely new batch of characters, both of which were said to be attributes of Rogue Squadron…
Conceptually, Star Wars: Starfighter sounds similar to Rogue Squadron. The former is set at the furthest point in the Star Wars timeline any project has gone thus far, proving to be a story that will take the franchise into the future. Starfighter will also be mostly standalone from the Skywalker Saga and feature an entirely new batch of characters, both of which were said to be attributes of Rogue Squadron. Finally, the focus on starfighter pilots speaks for itself. As it turns out, Star Wars: Starfighter might be taking a leaf out of The Mandalorian‘s footsteps and incorporating a failed Star Wars project into its story.
Star Wars’ Cancelations Are Frustrating, But This New Trend Makes Them More Bearable
At Least These Stories Are Not Lost Forever
Star Wars under Disney has fallen into the unfortunate trap of announcing projects that will never happen. This is always frustrating, just like it was with Rangers of the New Republic and Rogue Squadron. That being said, this retcon trick of folding previously conceived stories into new, fresher ideas makes these situations a lot more bearable. This way, Star Wars is still telling a story that might have sounded cool in concept only with a more fleshed-out script and a more compelling cast of characters. Hopefully, Star Wars: Starfighter proves to do the same with Rogue Squadron, lessening the sting of the latter’s abrupt cancelation.
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