Star Wars can’t catch a break these days. While The Mandalorian keeps plugging away on television and fans prepare to open The Book Of Boba Fett, Disney is having a tough time getting Star Wars back on the big screen. Per The Hollywood Reporter, Patty Jenkins’ upcoming Rogue Squadron is the latest Star Wars film project to face production delays.
The problem, reportedly, is scheduling. The Hollywood Reporter’s sources say that the production team realized that it would be impossible for Rogue Squadron to begin preproduction this year due to Jenkin’s calendar. As such, Squadron would not be able to start production in 2022.
While The Hollywood Reporter notes that it is “unclear what if any of Jenkins’ commitments were at issue specifically,” sources say that Wonder Woman 3 would follow Rogue Squadron. And now, it’s also unclear if this schedule will remain the same. Jenkins has a full plate at the moment, with Wonder Woman 3 for Warner Bros. and a Cleopatra movie for Paramount. So those are staying on the schedule—though, the latter will also probably face difficulties as is tradition for Cleopatra movies.
Patty Jenkins joins an illustrious group of filmmakers whose Star Wars projects have been grounded. A trilogy of films by Rian Johnson, announced around the release of The Last Jedi, is still floating around in the ether, popping up whenever we need it, like so many dead Jedi.
Meanwhile, Game Of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss canceled their trilogy, blaming conflicts with their Netflix deal. But, publicly, neither had anything to do with the mostly toxic backlash surrounding both The Last Jedi or Game Of Thrones’ final season.
What happened to Star Wars? Back in the old days, you could write an incomprehensible movie about a mysterious Jedi building a clone army on Kamino. Today, we’re stuck subscribing to another streaming service to get our Force fix. What gives? The last Star Wars movie released in theaters was friggin’ The Rise Of Skywalker in December 2019? What a bummer.
Currently, Rogue Squadron’s December 2023 release date remains unchanged. In the meantime, Taika Waititi’s Star Wars movie is the next franchise installment slated for delay release.