Why Ryan Gosling can be a new hope for the Star Wars universe

The news that Ryan Gosling is in talks to take the lead in a new Star Wars movie will be met with dismay by some fans. Particularly since the untitled movie looks set to be directed by Shawn Levy, the man behind last year’s divisive mega-hit Deadpool and Wolverine.

While Gosling is an acclaimed Oscar-nominated A-Lister, he is also Ken from Barbie, not someone who is particularly edgy in the manner sci-fi fans demand.

Meanwhile, Levy might too edgy for many, with Deadpool’s Grand Guignol of ‘wrong’ humour, anarchic piss-taking and infantile glee not exactly made for the Star Wars galaxy, which relies upon a certain seriousness at its core; meta has a big place in comic book films, not so much in space operas where the minute someone starts winking at the camera, everything collapses.

However, the Star Wars Cinematic Universe, to give it its official title, is in trouble.

It’s not just The Acolyte that’s been cancelled, there’s been a steady stream of aborted films.

A new trilogy by Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss was scrapped. Patty ‘Wonder Woman’ Jenkins’ Rogue Squadron film was also scrapped in 2023 though is now back on. Kevin Feige had a Star Wars film in development but that was also cancelled in 2023. Same with Taika Waititi’s project.

Another trilogy by X-Men man Simon Kinberg is still in the works. But a film centred around Daisy Ridley’s Rey was removed from the 2026 schedule and it’s unclear whether it will happen at all.

While the film version of the standout series in Disney’s Star Wars universe, The Mandalorian, will be coming in 2026, there’s no other films scheduled on the slate.

Part of this turmoil must undoubtedly be down to the tepid reception to the most recent main trilogy which ended with the disappointing Rise of Skywalker. In fact, with the passing of time, the other films in that set, The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, also seem rather poor. The tone was too heavy, the storylines too predictable, they all lacked the stirring adventure of the original trilogy and indeed completely wasted Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker.

The one bright point of those films was Harrison Ford returning as Han Solo in The Force Awakens, who brought the laughs and that down-to-earth wryness which had always counter-balanced the sincerity elsewhere.

And this, you feel, is why Ryan Gosling will be the perfect man to take the lead in a Levy film. He has that Ford ability to combine humour and heavy charisma, as seen when the pair matched up in Blade Runner 2049. You have a sense of him operating with a self-aware twinkle in his eye, knowing he’s a pretty boy whilst also undercutting it.

Levy is working with his screenwriter from The Adam Project – that fun Netflix Ryan Reynolds sci-fi film – Jonathan Tropper, on the new film and if Gosling confirms it will surely head to production (Levy said things were moving fast in an interview late last year).

And really, this line-up of people will be just what Star Wars needs. Less pomposity, more jokes, the kind of playfulness that made Empire Strikes Back such a joy.

Anything to freshen things up. George Lucas’s prequel trilogy was patchy, to put it kindly, undermined in its high-minded ambition by naff scenes and underwritten characters. The later sequels, kicked off by JJ Abrams, seemed nervous, burdened by expectation.

You can’t imagine the freewheeling glee of Levy will be tampered too much in a galaxy far, far away, and as the natural inheritor of Ford’s leading man charm, Gosling may be a new hope for Star Wars.