Patty Jenkins’ ‘Star Wars’ Movie Gets Delayed
Almost one year ago at a Disney investor presentation, Star Wars announced its big return to movie theaters after the conclusion of Skywalker Saga. Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins would direct Rogue Squadron, based on the concept that had previously appeared in comics and games, about a team of elite Rebel pilots. Along with the news came a glossy video posted to Jenkins’ social media, teasing the project, and Jenkins’ love of the material.
One year later, Rogue Squadron should be gearing up to go into production; the movie was slated to open in theaters on December 22, 2023. But that release date may now be in jeopardy. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Jenkins Star Wars movie “will take a little longer” to make it to theaters and may be delayed.
They blamed scheduling conflicts for the source of the problem:
Jenkins and writer Matthew Robinson and Lucasfilm have been developing Squadron for over a year with the goal of starting production in 2022. It was to have started pre-production by the end of this year. However, in what sources say are scheduling issues on Jenkins’ side, the producers and filmmaking team came to the realization that Jenkins’ timetable and other commitments wouldn’t mesh with the window needed to make the movie in 2022.
They didn’t specify the nature of the “scheduling issues,” but speculated that Jenkins might instead make Wonder Woman 3 instead.
Rogue Squadron was supposed to be the next Star Wars movie to open in theaters. Lucasfilm does have other potential Star Wars films in development, including mysterious projects by Taika Waititi and Marvel’s Kevin Feige. To date, though, neither of those movies have been given an official release date. Unless one of those projects is further along in development than the public knows, it could be quite a few years before Star Wars returns to the big screen.
In the meantime, of course, there are a ton of upcoming Star Wars television shows on Disney+, including The Book of Boba Fett debuting later this year. It is kind of odd, though, that one of the most iconic film franchises of the last half century has suddenly turned into a series that basically only exists on television.