Star Wars is gearing up to return to the big screen in the coming years, with projects such as The Mandalorian & Grogu and Starfighter. But before more Starfighter details can come out, many are speculating if certain non-canon characters will be brought into the fray, even with how unlikely it is. 

Starring Ryan Gosling and Amy Adams, Starfighter doesn’t have any official story synopsis revealed just yet. However, it has been confirmed that the story will take place separate from that of the Skywalker Saga, which wrapped up with The Rise Of Skywalker. With the story being separated from it, and a chance for new lore to be developed, many are claiming that the film will bring in fan favorite characters from the now non-canon Legends continuity. 

The prevailing theory as of now is that Gosling could play Cade Skywalker, while Adams could play Mara Jade. 

Mara Jade became one of the most well known characters in the entire Star Wars Expanded Universe. Originally appearing in Timothy Zahn’s Heir To The Empire, Mara went from a trusted advisor of Emperor Palpatine to one of the most powerful Jedi of Luke Skywalker’s new Jedi Order, eventually going on to marry Luke and fight alongside him and his allies as the Yuuzhan Vong wage war against the New Republic. 

Cade Skywalker, however, is the great-great-grandson of Luke and Mara, appearing in the Star Wars: Legacy comics. Well over a hundred years after the events of the Original Trilogy, Cade fights against Darth Krayt in a power struggle for the freedom of the galaxy. 

Collider notes that, although highly speculated, it’s more likely that Gosling and Adams will be playing new characters. The only basis for the speculation comes from the appearances; the official set photo for Starfighter shows Gosling with unkempt hair, like Cade, and Adams has red hair, like Mara. Not only that, but their existence in the Disney-era canon would clash with what’s already been established in the universe, and wouldn’t line up with many of their base traits in Legends, which have been carried over for other characters canonized since Disney took ownership.

They also pointed out that, given the unexplored era it takes place in, Starfighter would be the perfect place to introduce brand new characters that no one, well-versed with Legends or not, will be familiar with.

Star Wars: Starfighter hits theaters May 28th, 2027.