Patty Jenkins’ Rogue Squadron Delayed
Rogue Squadron, the next Star Wars film set to go into production next year and come out in 2023, has been delayed. Director Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman) and Lucasfilm realized that the filmmaker had previous obligations that would interfere with their plans, according to a Hollywood Reporter exclusive from earlier today. It is unknown if the other feature films Lucasfilm has in store will be released ahead of Rogue Squadron now. These projects include a film produced by Kevin Feige of the MCU and one directed by Taika Waititi. However, numerous Disney+ exclusives are still coming, including The Book of Boba Fett and the Kenobi series.
I wasn’t necessarily expecting this to happen, but I’m not shocked either. This film is one project on the Star Wars slate that I’ve struggled to make sense of. It shares its title with a classic Star Wars game, but this is apparently just a weird coincidence. It was set to be the first cinematic Star Wars experience in four years (now even longer), and it will be a standalone story. Presumably, it won’t feature the Force, just pilots and ships. I liked Patty Jenkins’ work on Wonder Woman. Unfortunately, she lost a lot of goodwill with the bizarre, meandering sequel that damaged the characters people initially loved. I was neither excited for Rogue Squadron nor dreading it. I’ve been stuck in a loop of shrugging at it carelessly or forgetting about it altogether.
All this being said, that nobody noticed that this film’s production schedule clashed with Jenkins’ own is a red flag. I find it strange that she wouldn’t be keeping track of her jobs, but I also wonder if Lucasfilm didn’t double-check before announcing official dates. By itself, this probably wouldn’t be a huge deal, particularly as nobody seems very jazzed about this title. The problem is that this is a pattern for Lucasfilm. Directors have been replaced and fired, series reworked or pushed off the table entirely, films re-shot, and now we have this. The titans of the industry can’t even figure out a daily planner.
