Patty Jenkins’ Rogue Squadron fulfills its destiny and becomes another delayed Star Wars project
After trilogies by Rian Johnson and Benioff and Weiss stalled out, Patty Jenkins’ Rogue Squadron is now delayed, too
Aux News Patty Jenkins
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.
132 Comments
Wait, is that Patty Jenkins Rollerblading “At the speed of light” to an awaiting Tesla?
lmfao dear lord
You know what? If Star Wars continues as even just decent-to-good television, then that will be fine. Maybe film isn’t their medium anymore.
Man, what a bummer to consider. Then again, I’m not a fan of The Mandalorian. So, my opinion might be a minority one. I do love a lot of the television animated Star Wars business out there. The original Clone Wars and Visions, in particular, are some of the most satisfying pieces of storytelling in all of Star Wars.
+1 for original Clone Wars. They need to give Tartakovsky another series like yesterday.
I’m not a big fan of Mando either, but I’m less a fan of the last two SW movies and so I really don’t mind a long (permanent?) break from SW on the big screen.
I’m somewhat with you on the films—assuming we’re talking about Solo and The Rise of Skywalker, which have really dropped for me since first seeing them. If the shows are good, then it’s not a big deal. I’m just waiting for them to really resonate for me.
I would have enjoyed The Mandalorian more if it didn’t play like a video game.
I think that’s exactly the problem. Mando not being a real character would be more entertaining if I got to steer him throughout the galaxy with Baby Yoda.
I don’t think we’re in for no movies ever but meeting in the middle, I’ll take fewer movies over the former plan of one per year ad infinitum.
Edit: Meant to respond to another user.
I’ve been enjoying the comics, too.
Seriously, the Vader series have been really remarkable!
I have to disagree. Like Star Trek’s ideal medium is television, Star Wars’s ideal medium is film. That doesn’t mean that there’s not some great Trek movies and good Wars shows, but they’re built to be experienced in different environments.I like The Mandalorian, especially when the episode can more or less stand on its own as a weekly adventure straight out of a 1930s pulp magazine. But Star Wars belongs on the big screen where you can really experience the aesthetics of the world–the sound design, music, puppetry, special effects, movement, and sound. The best parts of Star Wars fit right at home in a movie theater, not at home.
Saying there’s an ‘idea’ medium for any IP is inherently limiting. There are 4 or arguably 5 good Star Wars movies and only a couple of them have been made in the last 30 years, but most Star Wars TV has been pretty good or really good for over a decade now. Not to mention the comics and novels that kept the IP relevant for a good decade or so.
I’m not saying that there aren’t good novels, comics, and tv shows from Star Wars. I love ancillary material. But they still seem secondary to the films. Without the sensory experience that film provides, I just don’t think Star Wars is as unique or engaging. On the small screen Star Wars can be enjoyable, but it still seems like a lesser version of the real thing. I’m all for Disney taking some time to figure out how to make interesting Star Wars movies again. Maybe I’ll keep on watching The Mandalorian in the meantime. But if Star Wars only exists on television, I think that’s it for me. And my guess is that existing mostly on TV will diminish its cultural relevance.
That’s not the way I feel but then I was someone who owned most of the EU novels up to Vector Prime so a lot of my young exposure to Star Wars was through them. I guess I’ve viewed it as a mixed media property for a long time.
Fair enough. I read a bunch of the EU novels when I was in grade school, and in the run up to The Force Awakens, I even reread a few and listened to some prequel era novels. And the quality could be uneven, but when they’re well done, they’re a lot of fun.Weirdly enough, I actually found myself more drawn to the prequel novels. Despite those their flaws, those movies opened up the world of Star Wars and there were a lot more places for the authors to explore.
Im trying to count five good Star Wars movies
Well the OT is 3, Rogue One though I’m not a big fan is far from ‘bad’ so that’s 4 and then I personally really enjoyed Solo, which makes it arguably 5 since plenty of people would argue that it’s bad.
That’s all well and good while the films are actually good; the sequel trilogy’s been handled pretty horribly though. Hopefully with the numbered films over and done with, they’ll be giving the next lot a longer leash as with the side stories.
I agree that the sequel trilogy, overall, was handled poorly. I thought The Last Jedi was a real shot in the arm, and I like about 2/3s of The Force Awakens. But the deeper problem is a desire on Disney’s part to just rehash old characters and tropes. Trying to recreate the Rebels vs Empire dynamic was deeply stupid.The last time it felt like Star Wars was trying to expand its horizons was during the second Clone Wars series, especially with the weird Force beings. Of course, that was when Lucas was still involved. For me, it’s easier to accept less ambitious storytelling when its on TV, but I also think that’s how a series dies a slow death.
Last Jedi had some flaws but was good overall, I agree. I didn’t hate TFA either; it’s mostly in retrospect that you can see hints at the issues that would mar TROS. Rogue One was excellent though, and Solo was decent too. I’d say Disney’s hit rate has been about the same as Lucas’, so I don’t think he’s an essential ingredient (at least, not any more).It feels like the crux of your argument re. film vs TV though is the cinematic experience, which is kind of irrelevant outside of the film’s theatrical run. Unless you have a theatre in your basement, “the big screen” is a transient event rather than an intrinsic part of the work itself, and not a good basis for comparison.
In some ways the differences between the mediums have diminished over the years. But, yes, the theatrical experience is still important, even if it’s a rarified event. Even at home, films are still a more visual medium than television. I find that sitting down and giving yourself over to a movie at home can be a more immersive experience than watching a couple of episodes of TV.But film is still important. If Marvel were to leave theaters and just continue putting out TV shows on Disney+, it’s cultural impact would be diminished. It would become more niche. But, yeah, there were things wrong with Disney’s approach to their Star Wars movies. I would have liked them to get weird with the Force or maybe even try to clear up the chosen one prophecy and what was going on there. There were so many options. And I just don’t think Star Wars is able handle the one film a year schedule like Marvel. They got greedy.
Given how annoying both the films and their fans have become, I’m OK with not having to hear from either for a few more years.
New films would be fine as long as it’s a good story. Story > Nostalgia
*sniff*…but…my childhood!!!
Yup.
Yup. Clone Wars, Rebels, The Mandalorian, The Bad Batch and Visions have all been a treat. I’m all about this formula.
A Cleopatra movie? Well, at least those always run smoothly, on budget, and to schedule.
And with Gal Gadot in the lead nothing can go wrong!
Oh, is it a musical?
Denis Villeneuve has been tied to a Cleopatra movie as well, so that means we’ll be getting potentially TWO Cleopatra movies? I don’t know if we need even one new one. After Denis films Dune Part Two, I’d prefer to see him do something that’s not big-budget/tentpole.
The man loves his sand
He likes sand. It’s fine and smooth , and soothing, and it doesn’t get everywhere.
“Denis, we think you’d be perfect for our upcoming film about the Earl of Sand…”“Go on.”“…wich.”“Oh.”
Whaddya mean? How many “Earls of Sand “are there?
So that means Denis will direct a Sandman vs Spiderman Movie?
Another Prince of Persia film?
Lawrence of Arabia?
Phantasm?
Tremors?
George RR Martin’s Sandkings?
I doubt we’ll see small scale Villeneuve any time soon
It’s a bummer because he can still achieve a lot with less money and still make the big money studios want (Prisoners, Sicario, Arrival), which isn’t to say he doesn’t deserve to get big budgets/large scale movies.
Agreed. I wish he’d do more of a mix of stuff. Enemy is by far my favorite of his and I don’t see him making anything like that in a long time, if ever
Enemy is definitely one of his underrated and less mentioned movies. Sadly, I also don’t see him making something like that or Incendies for a while. Same as how Christopher Nolan hasn’t done something smaller like Insomnia once he became TDK trilogy famous.
Nolan is a way way shittier filmmaker, though
Ha, you don’t mince words there. But I do like many Nolan movies: Inception, The Prestige, Interstellar. Please don’t judge me!
Never! I like Following, Memento and The Prestige quite a bit. Nothing else has done it for me. I’m glad you like them!
Villeneuve should do The Sirens of Titan
Ptolemaic Cinematic Universe
This time with added ‘Cleopatra was black, Gal Gadot is Jewish!’ culture war stuff for the media to go to town on.
While the ethnic makeup of the native Egyptians is debatable (although the Copts, the ethnic group that until the 19th century, spoke a language clearly descended from Ancient Egyptian and were presumably descended from them, look pretty Middle Eastern). Cleopatra wasn’t a native Egyptian. She was descended from the Greek colonizers put in charge of Egypt by Alexander the Great.
Having black and Jewish people in a movie is culture war stuff?
oof, maybe go find out who Gal Gadot is playing in the movie and then think through what you just wrote.
I didn’t know the full context so of what that poster was talking about so I asked a question for clarification. Do fuck off with your condescension, thanks
If Disney is willing, I’d like to step in and direct this movie. I can’t promise it won’t end up being a series of disturbingly graphic sex scenes with various aliens from the Star Wars universe but hey, these are the risks you take with an untested visionary such as myself. And I know Disney is all about risk.
Disney’s too afraid of the Ewok mob.
I’m in. Gotta be better than anything the director if WW 84 created.
There’s already a Star Wars porno. It’s fucking hilarious.
Star Whores?
Stretch out with your feelings, amirite?
Hey, nerfherder! Watch where yer putting those feelings!
It would be awesome to see Rogue Squadron : a FilthyWhore Joint.
I’m sure it’s fine. I mean, it’s not like Disney has booted a director from a Star Wars movie due to the tepid reception of their most recent film… right?
When did this ever happen?
Colin Trevorrow
His ideas seemed pretty lousy though. Not that Rise was particularly good.
Out of a sense of camaraderie with the folks currently preaching the gospel of “actually, Eternals’ RT audience score is high, so it’s a great movie”, I’m gonna say: actually, TRoS’ RT audience score is high, so it’s a great movie.
His movie probably would have sucked, but it would have been better than Rise of Skywalker, although that’s a low bar.
His movie would’ve been at least more interesting than TRoS
The outline had flaws, but if we’re being fair – that was an early draft. I’m sure they could have polished it up before filming began.
Left because Leia was a major character in his script, and after Carrie Fisher passed away, it had to be extensively rewritten. The rewriting didn’t go well.
josh trank
Dropped because of unhinged behavior on the set of another movie.
When did this ever happen?
Gold Two : The quarantines – they’ve stopped!Gold Fans : Stabilize your IATSE contracts… Watch for unvaccinated actors.Gold Leader : The schedules are coming in! Three marks at 2-10!Gold Leader : It’s no good, I can’t maneuver!Gold Fans : Stay on target.Gold Leader : We’re too close!Gold Fans : Stay on target!Gold Leader : [shouts] Loosen up!Gold Fans : Gold Fans to Red Leader, lost Benioff, lost Weiss.Red Leader : I copy.Gold Fans : They fell way… behind![crashes]
Considering the steaming pile of dookie that was WW 1984, maybe it’s for the best.
Same. Both the WW movies are bad. Sorry, Patty.
Yep, I am fine with a new director taking on WW. The bulk of the first film was fine, but the end was crap. And WW84 is crap from the opening second to the end. If there was ever a movie that was perfectly made for Screen Rant’s Pitch Meeting, WW84 was it.
I’d say the beginning of the first film on the island was crap too. It had a solid middle, though.
Probably the best pitch meeting there is, imo.
Honestly, they’re blaming this “delay” on “scheduling conflicts,” but it also could be because her last “movie” was a unholy chunk of fuck, so bad it equals Colin Trevarrow’s unbelievably shit movie that got him booted off of Star Wars.Somebody call me when the firing is Kathleen Kennedy, lady has LOST IT.
Wonder Woman 84 was garbage and – lets be honest here – the first Wonder Woman only looked good because it was surrounded by a vast sea of utter shite. If it were a marvel flick, everyone would have considered it a third tier movie.
*Streaming pile of dookie
Missed opportunity for “Wookiee Dookie” tbh
I sadly haven’t cared a ton about the SW movies in a while, but good excuse to reminisce about the books! I LOVED the X-Wing: Rogue/Wraith Squadron books as a kid. Corran Horn was the man before they made him Force sensitive for no real reason (Star Wars been doing that for years apparently). I know people shit on the EU, but I really wish they had just done what Marvel did – loosely adapt the source material, taking only the best parts. The X-Wing series could’ve been amazing, you could’ve taken Grand Admiral Thrawn and Mara Jade from Zahn, and instead of Solo we could’ve had an adaptation of “The Courtship of Princess Leia” (ok, maybe that would be a good one to excise). Honestly though, making a Rogue Squadron movie or series is such a slam dunk given Star Wars’ influences that I have no doubt they’ll manage to mess it up somehow.
oh the first wraith book is just good fun.
I know in retrospect that they were probably just rote military squad-type fiction, and I don’t remember nearly any of the details of them, but those books were like crack for preteen me. I mean, they were like Top Gun, but in space. What could be better?
A Beach Space Volleyball scene?
“You can be my wingman any time.”“Hold on, Ice. Don’t you mean ‘you can be my space-wingman any time, in space’?”“Yes. Yes of course Mav, thanks for the correction. In space.”
Solo is the only ‘new’ Star Wars film I can honestly say that I like.
It was not good, not good at all. Visually bland, miscast lead actor, and fan nudges that were frankly embarrassing. But it wasn’t actively offensive in the way the “sequels” were.
It would be worth it for “Han Solo, what-a-man Solo…”
I never read the proper Rogue Squadron books, but I think that the book where Corran Horn became a Jedi was one of the funniest editions to the EU ever.For the uninitiated, it was titled “I, Jedi” and was functionally a canon fanfic, as it follows Horn running around near the events of a different trilogy (published 4 years earlier!) in which he was never once mentioned. For large swathes of the plot, he’s waylaid just outside the events of the trilogy, only to run over shouting “Is Luke okay?!?” right where the other books left off. It’s peak EU writing, which is to say it’s pulpy and actually quite fun; but I cannot believe he was authorized to retcon a character into the events of another series! It boggles my mind.
What’s crazy about that book is how much Coran Horn is clearly a stand in for the author. It really is like fan fiction. He defeats Luke in a lightsaber duel at one point, and there’s some female space pirate who immediately falls for him. Throughout the novel Horn is described as stroking his goatee, which seems like a weird detail. But then I looked up a picture of Stackpole, the author, and he has a stupid-looking goatee. The dude totally wrote himself into Star Wars as someone more badass than Luke and who all the ladies love.
This is how I’ve always felt re: Neil Gaiman and Morpheus, the messy-black-haired lord of stories. But it’s okay because, you know, Sandman’s pretty good.
That’s an interesting take. I actually just started reading Sandman for the first time, and somehow I didn’t know how much it intersected with other DC characters. As you say, it’s pretty good so far.
Yeah, it’s surprising! I think the connections were mandated —- they become less and less common as the series goes on (and, I guess, as Gaiman gained clout.)Enjoy it! That was my gateway drug into comics.
I kinda wish they had let Stackpole rewrite the whole Jedi Academy series – even as a kid I didn’t love Anderson’s writing, though I still read pretty much everything he wrote. I definitely read I, Jedi (I remember the cover very clearly) but remember very little about it – I liked Horn a lot more pre-Jedi.It’s been a lifetime since I read the X-Wing books but I remember them being solid pulpy fun. But that’s as a kid, who knows how they hold up.
If its not 100% a copy of the books, its trash.
There should be no more Star Wars movies.
Or superhero movies. Or zombie movies. Honestly, there’s nothing to be said any of these that hasn’t already been said. But they make money, so I think they’ll be around forever.
[jerkoff motions]
To me it’s less about what those movies have to “say” and more my worries that the existing machinery makes it extremely unlikely a good SW movie will sneak through.
How ‘bout lesbian love stories? May we still have those?
Why not both? Maybe Leia and Mon Mothma were secretly lovers and Han was just Leia’s beard (or whatever the equivalent is for lesbians).
Blue Is The Warmest Lightsaber
Expand your horizons. How about some Ayla Secura on Shaak-Ti action?
A ‘bonnet’?
As long as they don’t try to redeem an utterly toxic main character with out actually correcting any of the toxic behavior. I’m looking at you “Happiest Season”
Sheesh, didn’t realize what a can of whoop-arse I was opening there.
I sure hope so. It’s 95% of my viewing these days.A SW-set lesbian love story would be a slam dunk for me.
translation: Wonder Woman 84 did not perform (as its previous iteration) with critics, fans, or at box office [see: Josh Trank eve of Fantastic Four (2015) premier or Colin Trevorrow’s The Book of Henry (2017) box office tally] — negating any faith/Disney board dividends in Kathleen Kennedy ‘moving us into a future era of the galaxy…’Disney board: 3, K.Kennedy: 0
Pretty sure it was the proposed Confederate series that took the biggest bite out of the GoT guys opportunity
Probably a bit of both. ‘Wildly unpopular and even offensive idea for follow-up to popular series’ is probably something that can be survived if they just walked it back (“Ok, we heard the enthusiasm in the response and as a result, we’re gonna think for a while and come up with some completely different ideas”). But couple that with really shitting the bed on said popular show – particularly when they basically had an open checkbook from HBO to finish it however they thought they needed to – and it might have seemed that the good seasons of GOT were a fluke, rather than something that you could expect on a new project.Personally, I think they did a great job of making a show when they were adapting books, but not such a great job when they were making it up off of GRRMs notes. If they were to do a Star Wars trilogy, I think they’d makea good run with adapting something from the EU (KOTOR comes to mind, and people speak highly of the Thrawn books though I have not read them myself.)
If they were to do a Star Wars trilogy
They’d get bored after the first two and they’d intentionally tank the third one.
Yes, because that’s famously what happened.Not that they had a blueprint for the first six seasons then had to string something together from vague notes made by the guy who hadn’t looked at said notes in a decade?
What’s the point of being an ignorant twat? You don’t help anything and just come off as a moron.
I have a better idea. Give it to a director that doesn’t make garbage movies. Win-win!
Maybe don’t make another movie until there’s a compelling story that’s worth telling. And maybe don’t stretch it into a trilogy without mapping that story out first, so narrative threads started in one movie aren’t immediately abandoned in the next.
“And maybe don’t stretch it into a trilogy without mapping that story out first”
This. I get that the first movies were a trilogy, but it doesn’t mean every subsequent ones have to be.
Just cobble a few new Mandalorian episodes together and release as a movie. That will be one million American dollars for this killer idea Disney.
Oh relax. We’ve waited much, much longer than a few years for Star Wars. I’d rather that they get it done right than that they get it done fast.
If it keeps her from writing a Star Wars move I’m all for it.
OH, is Princess Jenkins too busy to make a STAR War?!
These days, whenever a major studio franchise film is delayed indefinitely in order to “get the script just right” you can be pretty certain it was a dumpster fire and they’re probably just playing the PR long game of revealing the writer/director was actually fired six months ago. This is also Star Wars, a franchise that lately has dumped more directors and projects than it’s actually produced.
Replace Jenkins as director. After Wonder Woman 84, she shouldn’t be directing anything.
“What happened to Star Wars?”
Are you fucking kidding me?
Are you honestly going to pretend that there aren’t decade-plus gaps between trilogies prior to the Disney buy?
Fuck off.
I wonder just how high a percentage of movies get delayed in production. (My guess is, it’s higher than 25%.)
Here comes the rage.
i got bad vibes from the rollerblade promo video, good riddance.
Well, at least the Kevin Feige Star War is moving forward.
17 years between Return of the Jedi and Phantom Menace, 10 years between Revenge of the Sith and Rise of Skywalker, I think we’ll be okay.
I’ve been in talks with Disney to take over directing this film, so this is not all that surprising to hear. We just have to come to terms on the whole dildo, X-Wing redesign. But we’ll get there… we’ll get there…
Rian Johnson the director of the most controversial and polarizing of the Star Wars sequels THE LAST JEDI is set to direct a new Star Wars trilogy with all new lovable characters.What all new characters will we get?ChuKeeta the WookieBleep Blurp the comical droidDaz Soolak the heroic heroFelana the peasant girlGorky the ewokBeto Lovato the jediDarth HelmetI made these up lolhttps://www.starwars.com/news/rian-johnson-writer-director-of-star-wars-the-last-jedi-to-create-all-new-star-wars-trilogy?cmp=smc%7C1147744441
After the horror of WW84 this might be a good thing.