Ryan Gosling is in talks to Ryan Gosling is in talks to Star Wars, potentially set to star in Shawn Levy's mysterious movie.

Precious little is known about Levy's film. It seems to be becoming his focus after the success of Deadpool & Wolverine, and Levy hinted it's a standalone set apart in the Star Wars timeline. As he explained:

"There’s only so many times that Star Wars movies can revisit the same section of the timeline, and so it’s really forced me — because I don’t want to do a Star Wars movie that is redundant to others, nor am I interested in doing one that has to serve another movie."

The idea of Gosling as the star is an absolute game-changer, though - and not just because it suggests the future is in motion once again.

Star Wars Has Never Had Such A Big-Name Star Before

This Is A Very Different Casting Decision

Star Wars tends to go for relative unknowns when it comes to the stars. Back in the 1970s, George Lucas wanted to prioritize finding the right actors for the roles rather than banking on star power. Granted, it didn't help that the first Star Wars movie didn't command a big enough budget to draw in the big names. Alec Guinness was the exception, and he was far from impressed by the experience.

Fast-forward to the prequel trilogy, and there were really only two major established actors in significant roles: Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon Jinn and Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu. Neeson was chosen for the part because Lucas felt he was the perfect actor, not because he was a household name, while Jackson's relatively minor role was in recognition of his being a lifelong Star Wars fan. Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor had promising resumes, but nothing to distract from the bigger Star Wars brand.

Lucas did consider casting Leonardo DiCaprio as Anakin for the prequels, but Christensen got the role instead.

Ryan Gosling is different. Gosling has starred in countless movies, many with significant cultural impact - who can forget 2016's incredible La La Land? His career has recently been bolstered by the phenomenal success of Barbie, which grossed almost $1.5 billion in the global box office. He's reportedly turned down People's "Sexiest Man Alive" award multiple times. This casting decision feels so very different to anything Lucas would have done.

Disney Star Wars Has Been Moving In This Direction For A While

Rogue One Was The Closest Comparison

There's a sense in which Disney's Lucasfilm has been moving in this direction for a while. The closest comparison to Gosling lies in the decision to cast Felicity Jones as Jyn Erso in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story; she was only considered for the role because of The Theory of Everything. "I was only offered that role because I’d been nominated," Jones recently told The Telegraph, "That gave the producers the confidence that I could carry it. So I’ve learned the larger films enable the smaller ones to happen, and vice versa."

Lucasfilm faced far more constraints when it came to the remaining sequel trilogy movies (although there are rumors Gosling had been considered for Kylo Ren), while Solo: A Star Wars Story needed to prioritize actors who could look like a young Han Solo and Lando Calrissian. Even that featured Emilia Clarke as Qi'ra, Han's first love, and she was fresh from success in the then-ongoing Game of Thrones. So it's clear Lucasfilm has been pushing toward star power casting for the movies for quite some time.

Why Lucasfilm Is Moving Away From George Lucas' Approach

Star Power Is Becoming To Matter Again

The 2010s were a time of disruption for Hollywood, and for a while it genuinely looked as though star power was dead; the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe seemed to set up a new status quo where the franchises were more important than the actors. Some big names in Hollywood feared being eclipsed, and Will Smith even tried to launch an After Earth franchise. But all that appears to have changed in recent years, and we're returning to star power and big names once again. Gosling's discussions with Lucasfilm should really be seen in that context.

To be fair, the impact of franchises was probably overstated. The MCU notably stumbled after the departures of Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans, after all, suggesting there was a more complex relationship between franchises and stars than had generally been recognized. Most successful studios understood this, placing the faces of their actors front-and-center in marketing, and unmasking them liberally (even when it didn't always make narrative sense).

Matters are probably compounded by the sad truth that Star Wars has gone through something of a rough period. Lucasfilm seemed to lose confidence in the movies after the box office failure of Solo: A Star Wars Story and poor critical reception for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. The studio pivoted to Disney+ TV shows for the last five years, and these have been successful, albeit with diminishing returns. 2026's The Mandalorian & Grogu will mark Star Wars' return to the big screen - but Lucasfilm can be forgiven for wanting some star power in their movies just in case.

The Mandalorian & Grogu features Sigourney Weaver, another big-name actor, although we don't yet know what part she's playing or how significant her role will be. Now Ryan Gosling is in talks to Star Wars as well. It feels as though a Rubicon has been crossed, and now Star Wars will acknowledge its own cultural significance by drawing in bigger names than ever before. That's a decided shift from George Lucas' approach, albeit an understandable one, and it signals a change in the nature of Hollywood itself. This has clearly become a very interesting time for Star Wars.