The Last Starfighter reboot/sequel in the works?

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

The other day, screenwriter Gary Whitta (ROGUE ONE, THE BOOK OF ELI) dropped some killer news over on Twitter when he let all of us know that he's currently working on a reboot of Nick Castle's THE LAST STARFIGHTER with the original film's screenwriter Jonathan Betuel.

Well, i09 caught up with Whitta quick, fast, and in a hurry and asked him about the planned reboot/sequel. Below you will find choice bits from their back and forth and a link to the full piece below that.

Gary Whitta on his personal history with the original film:

It’s always been one of my all-time favorites. It is a deeply special movie for me. In terms of movies that stirred my imagination as a kid, it’s right up there with Star Wars. Maybe because I was a video game junkie back then, but the idea that playing a game could be a magic ticket to a real space adventure, I just always thought that concept was utterly brilliant. The film is sorely underrated in my view, although it’s endured as a cult classic and every time I bring it up in conversation people seem to just light up. There’s a tremendous undercurrent of fondness out there for it.

Whitta on why now is the right time to bring it back:

The simple answer to that is Jonathan Betuel. Jon created and wrote the original movie, it was all his idea, a spec script he wrote while he was working as a waiter in Hollywood in the early ’80s. There was a whole bidding war over that script. In all the years hence, whenever I’ve brought up the idea of a Starfighter reboot in meetings, people would always convey excitement and then say that it’s impossible because the rights are a mess. It’s true that it’s not simple, but part of the key to it is, as I understand it (and I’m not a lawyer), Jon still retains some piece of ownership of the original IP, so no one can make a new movie without his participation. I happened to track Jon down, and after I was done pestering him with all my fanboy questions about the original film we started to talk about what a new version might look like. Since then we’ve spent so many hours working on it I’ve long since lost count, but right now we have a fully developed story that is a combination of reboot and sequel that we both think honors the legacy of the original film while passing the torch to a new generation. We’re both very excited about it creatively.

You can check out the rest of the mini-interview HERE and then make sure to hit us up and let us know how excited you are for a possible reboot/sequel to Nick Castle's THE LAST STARFIGHTER in the comments below or on social media!

Synopsis:

After finally achieving the high score on Starfighter, his favorite arcade game, everyday teenager Alex Rogan (Lance Guest) meets the game's designer, Centauri (Robert Preston) — who reveals that he created Starfighter as a training ground for developing and recruiting actual pilots to help fight a war in space. Whisked away from the banality of his trailer park life to a distant alien planet, Alex struggles to use his video game-playing skills to pilot a real ship, with real lives at stake.

The original was directed by Nick Castle from a script written by Jonathan R. Betuel and starred Lance Guest, Robert Preston, Dan O'Herlihy, Catherine Mary Stewart, Norman Snow, and Kay E. Kuter.

Buy the original film on Blu-ray RIGHT HERE.