On December 10, 2020, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy presented an exciting range of new projects, with the centerpiece being a new movie depicting a beloved chapter of Star Wars history. In the years to come, many of these projects, like A Droid Story and Rangers of the New Republic, were postponed and quietly canceled. But this high-profile movie, once thought to have been tossed on the scrap heap, may live on after a shocking announcement from its director.
Patty Jenkins announced Rogue Squadron with a passionate video showing her donning a flight suit and a Star Wars pilot helmet. The Wonder Woman director would be the first female director of a Star Wars movie, and the subject matter seemed like a slam dunk. Rogue Squadron, the Rebel starfighter group led by Luke Skywalker’s friend Wedge Antilles, has been the subject of multiple books, comics, and video games, all considered among the best Star Wars has to offer.
However, the movie stalled due to Jenkins’ commitments to DC Studios. In September 2022, Rogue Squadron was quietly removed from Lucasfilm’s release schedule, and in March 2023 it was reported as “shelved.” Now, however, it appears to have been taken back down from the shelf. During an appearance on Max’s Talking Pictures podcast, Jenkins revealed she made a deal to return to the project last year.
Patty Jenkins dons a flight suit in her Rogue Squadron announcement video.
“When Wonder Woman 3 went away, Lucasfilm and I were like, ‘Oh, we’ve got to finish this deal.’ We finished the deal right as the strike was beginning,” Jenkins said. “[Lucasfilm] has a hard job in front of them of, ‘What’s the first movie [since the sequel trilogy] they’re going to do?’ They have other directors who have been working, but I am now back on doing Rogue Squadron.”
This is yet another sign that Star Wars is shifting its focus back to movies. Three future movies were announced during the most recent Star Wars Celebration, and The Mandalorian will move from streaming to cinema in The Mandalorian and Grogu, currently slated for a May 2026 release. Rogue Squadron may no longer be the highlight of the upcoming schedule, but there’s still a chance we’ll get to see the “greatest fighter pilot movie of all time” Jenkins promised four years ago.
Now that Rogue Squadron managed to do the impossible by escaping from Lucasfilm limbo, there’s no telling what other movies may one day return to active development. Are Taika Waititi and Rian Johnson going to dust off their old plans? Maybe that’s a stretch, but it seems like anything is (back) on the table now.
