- Primary Subject: Ryan Gosling in Star Wars: Starfighter
- Key Update: Speculation grows around Ryan Gosling's role as Kade Auberon in Shawn Levy's upcoming movie.
- Status: Confirmed
- Last Verified: August 27, 2026
- Quick Answer: Ryan Gosling plays Kade Auberon in Star Wars: Starfighter, potentially a rogue Jedi, First Order veteran, or brand-new outer-rim character.
Ryan Gosling is joining the Star Wars universe in the upcoming Shawn Levy movie, Star Wars: Starfighter.
However, true to the franchise’s fashion, details about the movie remain under lock and key, leaving Gosling’s role a mystery.
Only the character’s name, Kade Auberon, has been revealed, sparking several theories about who he could be. With several assumptions now making the rounds online, here are three possible roles Gosling could play in Starfighter.
Cade Skywalker
With a character named Kade Auberon, fans can’t help but draw comparisons to Cade Skywalker from the old Expanded Universe, now known as Star Wars Legends.
A descendant of Luke Skywalker, Cade was born roughly 100 years after the Battle of Yavin and trained as a Jedi under Master Wolf Sazen. However, he eventually abandoned the Jedi path to become a bounty hunter and smuggler, developing a rebellious and rough demeanor.
Because of the similarity in their names, some fans believe Ryan Gosling could be playing a version of Cade, potentially bringing another Skywalker into the Star Wars canon.
Moreover, Starfighter’s synopsis reveals that Kade is “confronted by his mysterious past,” raising the possibility that he could be a former Jedi who went rogue, much like his Legends counterpart.
A Former First Order Member
While describing his character in Starfighter, Ryan Gosling revealed that Kade’s fate “is intertwined with the fastest starfighter ever built.”
The starfighter in question is a G17 Imperial repeater. D23 attendees had the privilege of seeing a special look at the Star Wars movie, where Kade told Flynn Gray’s equally mysterious character that the repeater had been decommissioned and that “there’s a reason for that.”
By the looks of it, Kade has a connection to the former Imperial vehicle and may have been involved in its creation, possibly as a former First Order mechanic or engineer.
After building a new life as a rogue, Kade may have kept the starfighter hidden from the authorities despite its decommissioning. More importantly, he may know the reason behind its removal from service.
Just a New Character
Shawn Levy has remained tight-lipped about his new Star Wars film but has offered a few details about Ryan Gosling’s character and the other characters.
In an interview with Fandango at the recent D23 Expo, he described them as “not the privileged ones” who come from “the wrong side of the tracks.”
“Our characters in Starfighter are from the wrong side of the galaxy. And it’s about these sort of marginalized outsiders who find each other and have a shot at discovering heroism through their connections,” he said.
Based on this description, Kade appears to be an entirely new character with no ties to any of the previous Star Wars heroes.
Starfighter is being positioned as a standalone movie without legacy characters or existing storylines, so introducing Kade as a new character would make perfect sense.
Anyhow, fans should take these theories with a grain of salt, as nothing has been confirmed yet.
More details about Ryan Gosling’s character will likely be revealed as Starfighter approaches its theatrical release on May 28, 2027.
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