The indefinite delay to upcoming Star Wars film Rogue Squadron is reportedly due to creative differences between Lucasfilm and filmmaker Patty Jenkins. After a mixed response to 2019’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the Disney-owned production company has been focusing on creating multiple Star Wars TV series for Disney+. The next of these to hit the streaming service will be The Book of Boba Fett, which will lead on from events of The Mandalorian season 2 and is scheduled for release in December.
Despite the shift in direction, multiple Star Wars spinoff films have been proposed in recent years, including a Top Gun-esque fighter pilot action film from Wonder Woman director Jenkins. With an initial release date in December 2023, the film was set to be the first in the franchise directed by a woman, and earlier in the year it was confirmed that a script was almost complete. However, it was recently announced that Rogue Squadron has been indefinitely delayed, with Disney removing it from their release calendar.
Now, in the latest edition of his newsletter, former-THR editor Matthew Belloni reports that the delay is due to “creative differences,” rather than any scheduling conflicts. Belloni suggests the director came into conflict with the studio over the film’s script, and states that Jenkins was unwilling to “dick around.” The report also indicates that disagreements between filmmakers and Star Wars studio producers are becoming worryingly frequent under the management of Kathleen Kennedy. Check out some of Belloni’s comments on the situation below:
[T]he real culprit was the dreaded “creative differences”; specifically, Jenkins couldn’t agree on the script with Lucasfilm executives… That’s not unusual, of course, but it’s a laughably recurring problem at Lucasfilm under president Kathleen Kennedy, say agents: Top filmmakers are dying to make a Star Wars movie—until they sign on and experience the micromanagement and plot-point-by-committee process. […] Jenkins wasn’t willing to dick around, and she has other projects, notably Wonder Woman 3 at Warner Bros., where she enjoys more creative freedom.
News of the delay might not come as a surprise to Star Wars fans, who will have become used to films being announced and then dropped. Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss were at one point lined up to helm a new Star Wars trilogy, but their plans never came to fruition. Similarly, Rian Johnson’s planned Star Wars trilogy has also seemingly been abandoned. Even The Rise of Skywalker struggled with creative differences when its original writer and director Colin Trevorrow had to be replaced by J.J. Abrams due to disagreements over the film’s script. The delay to Rogue Squadron means that there are currently no upcoming Star Wars films with a definite release date.
However, Jenkins’ movie did get further along in pre-production than the other shelved Star Wars films, even releasing an official Rogue Squadron teaser. Fans will still hope that there is enough work done on the film to ensure that it is eventually released, even if Jenkins doesn’t go on to helm the project. Regardless of whether Rogue Squadron ever hits the big-screen, the frequent cycle of disagreements at Lucasfilm could certainly indicate that there are significant issues for the future of Star Wars films.
