The Best Star Wars Movie In Years Is Made With AI

It was just another morning on my way to work on Tuesday when I received an email that stopped me in my tracks. It was a link to “Ghost’s Apprentice,” a new short film set in the Star Wars universe by visionary filmmaker and AI artist Kavan Cardoza, known professionally as Kavan the Kid. Within moments, I was watching what might be the most stunning Star Wars content in years—crafted not by Lucasfilm’s industrial machine, but by a single independent creator using cutting-edge AI tools.

Cardoza is no stranger to viral AI-powered filmmaking. In December, his AI-generated Batman short stunned audiences with its eerie, dreamlike quality—so much so that Warner Bros. promptly issued a takedown order. Now, he’s done the same with Star Wars, and if Disney isn’t already drafting a cease-and-desist, they will be by the time you finish reading this.

But they shouldn’t. They should hire him.

An AI-Powered Triumph

Cardoza’s Star Wars short fan film tells a story as old as the franchise itself—a young Jedi, abandoned by his mother for his own safety, is trained in isolation by his uncle, and his uncle’s ghost. What sets it apart isn’t just its emotional depth, but the sheer technical brilliance of its execution. Importantly, when I showed the film on the big screen in the lecture hall, it looked great. No artifacts, no hallucinations. If I didn’t tell you the spectacular visuals were made by AI, you wouldn’t know it. The kick-ass storytelling was all Cardoza.

During a last-minute Zoom call with my “AI and Pre-production” class at Chapman University’s Dodge Film School, Cardoza shared how he created the film in just 14 days, working 12-hour days with a mix of AI tools, including Google’s Veo, Midjourney, and Runway. He pushed AI-generated video to its absolute limits, describing how he burned through Google Veo’s capacity so aggressively that he was cut off from further access.

For most of the film, Veo handled the text-to-video generation, seamlessly bringing Cardoza’s vision to life. But when he lost access with just one scene left, he had to pivot—switching to Kling and Midjourney for the final shots. “I literally got 10 and a half of the 11 and a half minute video done through Veo,” Cardoza told my class. “Then I lost access. It was like running a marathon and seeing the finish line, and someone just comes up and nails you in the knee.”

“It was cool to finally have the tools and the ability to do something like this without it costing tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars,” said Cardoza. “Now, it’s just about how far you’re willing to push the tech.”

The Future of Filmmaking—Or the End of Hollywood?

“This is the end of Hollywood,” one of my students remarked during our call. “No,” I said. “This is the dawn of a new Hollywood.” What a spectacular opportunity for talented and ambitious young people.

Cardoza is already in talks with major studios and brands. Since Batman, his AI-powered studio, Phantom X, has been flooded with inquiries. Hollywood’s gatekeepers may be scrambling to shut him down, but the industry should be learning from him instead.

Star Wars has always been a mythology for dreamers and rebels—people who push against the establishment to create something bigger than themselves. If there’s any justice in the galaxy, Kavan Cardoza won’t be getting a cease-and-desist.

He’ll be getting a contract.

Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out my website or some of my other work here.