For most actors, landing a role in a “Star Wars” film is a career milestone. For Amy Adams, it turned her back into a nervous fan.
The six-time Oscar nominee opened up about her role in “Star Wars: Starfighter” during a recent appearance on the SmartLess podcast, hosted byJason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett. Adams confirmed what fans had suspected for months, that her part in Shawn Levy’s upcoming film is a small one. But the size of the role didn’t stop her from getting emotional about it.
Adams described touring the creature shop twice during production and marveling at the practical sets, saying she was too excited to hold back her reaction. She admitted she showed up to her first day of filming so overwhelmed that she briefly lost her composure in front of the director, joking that Levy probably wondered if she was okay. “I’m on a Star Wars set, and I grew up on this,” she said, adding that separating her “dorky fangirl” instincts from her job as a professional actor proved harder than expected.
She stopped short of revealing plot details, citing confidentiality, but did offer one endorsement: her young co-star Flynn Gray, she said, is “so great. I was so nervous the first day of working, like I forgot how to act.”
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Adams has not been officially confirmed by Lucasfilm in a specific role, though multiple reports have described her as playing the mother of Gray’s character, who leads the film alongside Ryan Gosling. Some rumors suggest her character may also be Force-sensitive, though none of that has been verified by the studio.
“Starfighter” is the first “Star Wars” theatrical release set entirely outside the Skywalker Saga, unfolding roughly five years after “The Rise of Skywalker.” Directed by Levy, who previously worked with Adams on “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian,” the film also stars Matt Smith and Mia Goth as its central villains, alongside Aaron Pierre, Simon Bird, Jamael Westman and Daniel Ings. Production wrapped in December 2025, and the movie remains on track for its May 28, 2027 theatrical release, according to SFF Gazette.
Adams’ comments arrive as anticipation builds for the film’s marketing rollout. Disney screened early footage for industry insiders at CineEurope in Barcelona last week, though a public trailer has yet to materialize. For a franchise that has leaned heavily on nostalgia in recent years, Adams’ unfiltered reaction, an accomplished actor reduced to fangirl nerves by a set full of practical props and puppets, offers an early glimpse of the emotional pull “Starfighter” is hoping to tap into for longtime fans.
Whether her scenes end up spanning minutes or seconds of runtime, Adams made clear the experience left an impression regardless of how long she’s on screen.
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