Director Patty Jenkin’s crowded slate has reportedly led to the next Star Wars film being taken off the Disney production schedule altogether.
Whilst its pretty unanimous that Star Wars is firing along pretty well on the small screen, it’s no secret that it has been struggling for some time now to get its movie side back in business. Following a lacklustre response to Lucasfilm’s last couple of cinematic releases, a break was planned by Disney, with the general feeling being that a release of several films a year in the Marvel style was not a workable strategy for a franchise like Star Wars.
As such, the first film to launch the new wave of Star Wars films was supposed to be Patty Jenkins’ Rogue Squadron, an adventure-filled tale following the daring exploits of the brave pilots who make up the galaxy’s most talented fighter squadron. However, reports today are stating that the film will now struggle to make its scheduled Christmas 2023 release date, due to Patty Jenkins’ schedule. What’s more, the film hasn’t been officially delayed, but has instead been taken off Disney’s production schedule entirely. This means that once again, the studio has no Star Wars films currently slated for filming.
Jenkins is certainly busy, with a third Wonder Woman film lined up as well as the Cleopatra project that she is working on for Paramount with Gal Gadot. Given the franchise’s recent history, and the unforgiving nature of Jenkins’ schedule, we wouldn’t be entirely surprised if Jenkins ended up exiting Rogue Squadron; she certainly wouldn’t be the first director to depart a Star Wars project as the franchise seems to have more than its fair shares of issues in retaining creatives, with Josh Trank, David Benioff and DB Weiss, and Colin Trevorrow all leaving projects before they made it to the screen. Not to mention Phil Lord and Chris Miller departing Solo mid-production.
As it stands, it seems to be a case of wait and see as the film is currently retaining its Christmas 2023 release date, but we’d suggest that will have to change. The longer we’re are waiting without news, the more telling that silence may be.
Disney does have other Star Wars projects on the way too, but given that they are from equally busy creators in the form of Kevin Feige and Taika Waititi, they could be some time in coming. We’ll bring you more news on this one as we hear it.
The Hollywood Reporter
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