Following Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker's release in 2019, new Star Wars content has largely been relegated to Disney+ through series like The Mandalorian, Star Wars: The Bad Batch, and come this December, The Book of Boba Fett.
Lucasfilm's big-screen hiatus was set to end with Rogue Squadron, a theatrical film by Wonder Woman 1984 director Patty Jenkins and written by Matthew Robinson, which was expected to be set after the events of The Rise of Skywalker.
While the film was originally slated for a 2023 release, it now appears that Star Wars fans may have to wait a little longer before Jenkins' Star Wars project arrives in theaters.
Patty Jenkins Star Wars Film Delayed
According to The Hollywood Reporter, filming for Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins' Star Wars film - Rogue Squadron - has been delayed.
The film was first announced in a video for Disney's 2020 Investor Day Event where Jenkins credited her father's fighting pilot career as her inspiration while admitting her desire to make the “greatest fighter pilot movie ever made.”
While the film was supposed to have started production in 2022 with the goal of a 2023 release, the project was bumped due to scheduling issues caused by Jenkins' other commitments as the director currently has Wonder Woman 3 and Cleopatra in the works for Paramount.
Delayed From a Certain Point of View?
Jenkins' Rogue Squadron isn't the only Star Wars film in the works at Lucasfilm. Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige is currently attached to a Star Wars film, as is Thor: Ragnarok's Taika Waititi, and The Last Jedi's Rian Johnson.
Whether one of these films will be the one to bring Star Wars back to the big screen before Rogue Squadron is currently unknown.
What is surprising about this report is the explanation of Patty Jenkins' "scheduling conflicts," especially since the director had been attached to the project six months prior to its initial announcement in December of 2020.
While scheduling issues with actors are common, the same can't be said for filmmakers, particularly those at the helm of a major film for a blockbuster franchise.
Still, when it comes to Star Wars theatrical films, what's announced by Lucasfilm and what actually happens are often two different things. Lucasfilm had previously announced a Star Wars Trilogy from Game of Thrones writers David Benioff and DB Weiss for 2022, which never came to be.
The same may eventually be said for Rian Johnson's trilogy, as no further details or even a timetable have been confirmed in the years following 2017's The Last Jedi.
While it's unclear as to why Jenkins' Rogue Squadron won't be released in 2023, Lucasfilm appears committed to Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni's storytelling on Disney+ as new series like Andor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Season 3 of The Mandalorian are set to debut in 2022.
