Star Wars: Rogue Squadron Reportedly Delayed Due to Patty Jenkins’ “Creative Differences” With Lucasfilm

It wasn’t too long ago Star Wars: Rogue Squadron was expected to be the next Star Wars film to hit theaters. At one point, it was going to enter pre-production by the end of this year and pick up principal photography early 2022. Now, the film’s been delayed indefinitely and will likely no longer meet its current release date of December 22, 2023. Though Lucasfilm has yet to officially comment on the matter, one Hollywood insider suggests creative differences between the studio and filmmaker Patty Jenkins led to the delay, and it’s unclear if the two sides will be able to work together at a later date.

The latest report comes from former THR editor Matthew Belloni, who says Jenkins was frustrated by the micromanagement of select Lucasfilm executives, eventually opting to pursue other opportunities while Lucasfilm worked on fixing its internal problems.

“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,” Belloni writes in the latest issue of his newsletter.

He adds, “It happened to the Game of Thrones guys, David Benioff and Dan Weiss, who were hired to create a new trilogy but bailed. It also happened to Rian Johnson, writer and director of 2017’s The Last Jedi, whose own planned trilogy was shelved. 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.”

When Rogue Squadron was first announced, Disney went out of its way to film a teaser featuring Jenkins, who would have been the first woman to direct a Star Wars film. At the time, it was even being heralded as the “greatest fighter pilot movie ever made.” Jenkins’ last public comments on the project suggested the film’s script was nearing completion.

“It’s going amazing,” Jenkins told The Hollywood Reporter. “I had been on it already for six months before I even announced that, so we’re pretty deep into it. We’re finishing a script, crewing up, and it’s all going wonderful. I’m so excited about the story and excited that we’re the next chapter of Star Wars, which is such a responsibility and such an opportunity to really start some new things. It’s really exciting in that way.”

The next Star Wars project up is The Book of Boba Fett, due out on Disney+ December 29th.