Good news for Star Wars fans! Disney announced, during the investor day in December 2020, the release of a new film of the saga created by George Lucas for the end of 2023. Entitled Rogue Squadron, this film would be directed by Patty Jenkins, director behind Wonder Woman and Wonder Woman 1984, and must take place in the "future of the galaxy", well after the epic of Rey, Finn, Poe and the Resistance.
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As for the storyline, fans will be able to follow "a new generation of space pilots, who will earn their badges and risk their lives", as explained by Kathleen Kennedy, the head of Lucasfilm, during the presentation. No more elements for the moment, but an extended universe that seems to weave Disney (which bought Lucasfilm in 2012), with many series in development for its SVOD platform, Disney+.
Except that the project is on the way to becoming a movie story, if it is not already the case, so few reassuring news have been given over the months. At the end of 2021, according to rumors, an artistic dispute would be born between the director planned for the opus and the production, putting the project at a standstill. And the death knell fell in September 2022: no more release date planned, the film having been withdrawn from Disney's cinema release calendar.
Concerning the shooting and a possible post-production, it's the black hole: no casting announced, no beginning of shooting, nothing... The project seemed well and truly buried or, in the best case, postponed to the Greek calendar. But it is without counting on Patty Jenkins herself to give us some news last December... And apparently, the project still seems to be on track.
As reported by our colleagues of Numerama, the director came back in a long text on Twitter on the pause of her Star Wars film, explaining that Disney had offered to sign a contract with them. The director would have declined, because of a potential conflict of schedule with Wonder Woman 3, whose shooting was to take place at the same time as Rogue Squadron.
- Patty Jenkins (@PattyJenks) December 14, 2022
And to explain that Disney was willing to wait until the end of the production of Wonder Woman 3 to launch the project of this Star Wars film. "In fact, I'm still working on it and this project has been in active development since then," she finally explains in her tweet. She continues: "I don't know if it will happen or not. We never know until the development process is complete, but I'm looking forward to its future potential."
Except that since then, it's a whole different story... According to our colleagues from Variety, the production of the film has been put on hold since this month of March 2023 by the studio. And apparently there is little chance that it will be made, just like the Star Wars film by Kevin Feige, the MCU's dad, which is purely and simply cancelled.
So, will the film see the light of day or not? The ball is in Disney's court now. But Wonder Woman 3 being cancelled, Warner reviewing its copy on the future of the DCU, we'll still keep our fingers crossed...
