Back in December 2020, Patty Jenkins was supposed to helm the ‘Star Wars’ film “Rogue Squadron,’ with the movie hitting theaters on December 22, 2023. Obviously, that never materialized, and the film was nixed by Kathleen Kennedy and LucasFilm. Now, it’s back on?
Apparently, it is. In an interview on TCM‘s “Talking Pictures,” Jenkins confirms “Rogue Squadron” is back in the mix for future “Star Wars” movies. The story goes that Lucasfilm allowed Jenkins to delay “Rogue Squadron” for her to work on “Wonder Woman 3,” but that film got scrapped and she’s now back at work on her SW film.
Jenkins says she owes LucasFilm a script as part of their contract, whether they use it or not is a whole other story, according to her.
“So, when I left “Star Wars” to do “Wonder Woman 3,” I thought ‘maybe I’ll come back to “Star Wars” after “Wonder Woman 3,'” Jenkins told “Talking Pictures.” “So we did a deal for that to happen, started a deal, but I thought I was doing “Wonder Woman.” When that went away, Lucasfilm and I were like, ‘Oh, we gotta finish this deal.’ We finished the deal right as the strike was happening. So I now owe a draft of “Star Wars” and so we will see what happens there. You know, like, who knows?”
In case you’ve lost count, there are now seven ‘Star Wars’ films in development, from directors Sharmeen Obaid-Chimoy, James Mangold, Dave Filoni, Jon Favreau, Donald Glover, Shawn Levy and, now, Jenkins. Which comes first? We’re not really sure. I would bet it’s Favreau’s “The Mandalorian and Grogu.” Jenkins has no idea either:
It’s hard; they have a hard job in front of them of what’s the first movie they’re gonna do. They have other directors who have been working, but I am now, you know, I’m back on doing “Rogue Squadron,” and we’ll see what happens. We need to develop, you know, get it to where we’re both super happy with it.
Kennedy has a real mess of projects here. The Jenkins news comes after a recent rumor suggesting that Obaid-Chinoy’s film, starring Daisy Ridley, might have been scrapped. As it stands, Favreau’s “The Mandalorian and Grogu” is the only film, so far, that’s been dated for release (May 22, 2026).
As for Jenkins, she’s coming off the disastrous “Wonder Woman 1984.” In fact, Jenkins has only directed three films in the last 21 years.