Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman) and Lucasfilm announced she would be directing Rogue Squadron, a new Star Wars film and the first to premiere since The Rise of Skywalker, almost a year ago. Today, The Hollywood Reporter has reported that Jenkins’ film, originally expected to release in late 2023, has now been delayed.
Rogue Squadron was first announced on Disney Investor Day 2020 with an emotional teaser featuring Jenkins speaking about her father and his influence on her filmmaking. The end of the trailer featured Jenkins putting on a rebel flight suit and walking toward an X-wing starfighter.
The film was expected to begin production sometime in 2022. Now, the project has been taken completely off the schedule, and it’s unclear if and when it will be back. But the reported reason for the delay might not be the expected explanation.
The Hollywood Reporter wrote: “The producers and filmmaking team came to the realization that Jenkins’ schedule and other commitments wouldn’t allow for the window needed to make the movie in 2022,” implying that the delay is more related to Jenkins’ other projects and not the pandemic, which has been the cause of multiple delays in and outside of Star Wars for the past year and a half.
In 2020, it was announced that all Star Wars films would be delayed from their original expected release dates, giving Rogue Squadron a December 2023 slot. With this delay, it’s unclear whether something else will take its place or further Star Wars projects will be delayed. It’s also possible the movie won’t move forward at all if Jenkins and her team don’t work out a production schedule.
The status of Taika Waititi’s untitled Star Wars project is still unchanged as of now. But that, as with Jenkins’ film, could change in a heartbeat.
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