Ever since The Rise of Skywalker in 2019, Disney has struggled with getting more Star Wars movies off the bottom. Within the years since, Lucasfilm has had a nasty behavior of asserting issues for the sequence after which not making them, in the event that they ever actually existed in any respect. And all of it dates again to December 10, 2020, the place Disney’s Investor Day livestream noticed a plethora of new Star Wars projects get revealed.
In one other galaxy, maybe one not so way back or far, far-off, we’d be watching a kind of initiatives proper now. Star Wars: Rogue Squadron was revealed to be within the works throughout that stream, and with a launch date of December 22, 2023. The movie appeared promising on the outset: Surprise Lady director Patty Jenkins was stated to be on the helm (this was weeks earlier than Wonder Woman 1984 got here out, thoughts), and the logline teased a movie centered on a younger crew of starfighter pilots in a “boundary-pushing, high-speed thrill trip” that may deliver the franchise into “the longer term period of the galaxy.” As if that weren’t sufficient, it was borrowing the title from the beloved Rogue Squadron sub-series of video games, despite the fact that it might be telling its personal unique story.
All of the items appeared to be in place for “High Gun, however Star Wars,” however issues regularly started to crumble. In late 2021, information broke that Rogue Squadron had been delayed so Jenkins may get a 3rd Surprise Lady film off the bottom over at Warner Bros., together with Paramount’s Cleopatra film. Disappointing, however pretty commonplace as these items go, and it left the likelihood open that one other director may step in if she ended up having to exit the mission. The next 12 months, Rogue Squadron was pulled off Disney’s schedule completely, with Jenkins explaining that she agreed to come back again to the film as soon as Surprise Lady 3 was within the can. However regardless of her greatest efforts and main woman Gal Gadot’s insistence, Wonder Woman 3 is not a factor in any respect. As for Cleopatra, Jenkins is now simply producing it whereas directing duties belong to The Falcon & the Winter Soldier’s Kari Skogland.
By December 2022, Jenkins was now totally centered on actively growing Rogue Squadron, although she acknowledged that it may not ever occur. Its standing continues to be unclear; it sounded prefer it was dead dead again in March, however Kathleen Kennedy later instructed IGN it could nonetheless have an opportunity at life. Both method, it’s a really sophisticated sequence of occasions for a film that started off with a variety of goodwill. Nevertheless it’s not the one Star Wars mission to endure from this: we nonetheless don’t have any actual clue what’s occurring Taika Waititi’s movie, whereas movies beforehand introduced to be at work by Kevin Feige, Slight director J.D. Dillard, and Rian Johnson are all in varied phases of non-existence. (The chances of Johnson’s trilogy taking place get slimmer by the 12 months.) Even the latest trilogy of movies to be directed by James Mangold, Dave Filoni, and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy gained’t really feel like actual issues till they get Blu-Ray releases.
Time will inform if Rogue Squadron turns into an precise film we see, or on the very least an eight-episode Disney+ miniseries. Given how profitable Top Gun: Maverick was final 12 months, it’s not exhausting to think about how thrilling it’d be to look at X-wing and TIE Fighter pilots go at it on the massive display. Till that day comes, there’s at all times Star Wars Squadrons.
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