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Star Wars casts a huge shadow over the rest of pop culture, with the films and series in the franchise heavily influencing almost everything that came after. However, that doesn’t mean that more recent shows aren’t influencing Star Wars, as it seems that Stranger Things producer and director Shawn Levy is taking the lessons he learned on the Netflix hit with him to ensure that Star Wars: Starfighter remains grounded in character drama as much as it is about a galaxy far, far away.

During a recent interview, Shawn Levy talked about how his time working on Stranger Things had influenced how he approached his upcoming Star Wars film. “If I’ve learned anything on Stranger Things, it’s that you can get intimidated by the scale of franchise expectations,” he explained, which is a fair statement. After all, Star Wars fans are among the most vocal and passionate out there. “But you will lose your way if that’s your focus. I’ve learned the need to stay rooted in character, and themes and relationships on screen. Yes, they’re spectacle and scale, just like Stranger Things. And of course, Star Wars and Starfighter has spectacle and scale and adventure at a level I’ve never done in my whole career. But like Stranger Things, it’s also very much anchored in a human scale character-sized story.”

Star Wars has always been about big and small stories coming together. There is a galactic war waging throughout the series, but it is also about fathers and sons and daughters and personal redemption and how one person’s insecurities can shape their destiny. It is that kind of story that Shawn Levy wants to tell with Star Wars: Starfighter. “I think that if I can balance the epic and the intimate the way the Duffers have with Stranger Things, I’ll make a movie and an original and new Star Wars adventure that can be really satisfying to fans and audiences.”

Star Wars: Starfighter is due in cinemas on May 28, 2027.

Get to know, understand, and love the Star Wars franchise more with our Star Wars watch order, guide to all the upcoming Star Wars movies & TV shows, and all the Star Wars movies and Star Wars TV shows ranked.