Mikey Madison passes on role in Shawn Levy's Star Wars movie (2025)

After winning the Academy Award for Best Actress for Anora, Mikey Madison has her pick of projects, and for a brief moment, one of those was Star Wars. According to The InSneider, Madison was rumoured to be in early talks to join the cast of Shawn Levy’s upcoming Star Wars movie, but Variety has now reported that the actress has passed on the role. (UPDATE: The InSneider reports, “I was told by a well-placed source that Madison turned her back on Star Wars not for any creative reason, but simply for financial reasons. … the two sides were apparently far apart in terms of money.”)

In addition to Star Wars, Sneider said that Madison was also considering an offer to star in Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil movie. Now that she’s passed on Star Wars, perhaps Resident Evil could be her next project.

Sneider added that Levy’s Star Wars movie is “currently casting the lead role, which is a 15-year-old boy, as well as the boy’s mother, plus two villains.” There’s another significant female character in the mix, which is the role Madison was being eyed for.

Levy’s Star Wars movie is expected to star Ryan Gosling, although it’s not clear who the actor will play. Previous reports have stated that this could be Levy’s next project, as well as the next Star Wars movie to enter production, with principal photography kicking off as early as this fall. If Levy really is in the midst of casting the film, a fall shoot is entirely possible.

Levy has been working on the script with Jonathan Tropper, with whom he collaborated on This Is Where I Leave You and The Adam Project. The director has previously stated that the project will still feel like a Shawn Levy movie. “When Kathy Kennedy brought me on board to make a Star Wars movie, her central mandate to me was ‘I want a Shawn Levy movie. I want a story and a tone that reflects you and your taste and what you bring to your movies — with a Star Wars story,’” Levy explained in 2023. “So I have felt extremely empowered. We are in early days, unfortunately, because the development process was abruptly paused [due to the WGA strike], but I feel very empowered to trust my instincts in the development of this story and movie.“

Would you have liked to have seen Mikey Madison in a Star Wars movie?