Star Wars: What Does Scrapped Wonder Woman 3 Mean for Rogue Squadron?

Back in December of 2020, Lucasfilm surprised fans with the reveal that Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins had been tapped to develop the film Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, a reveal that excited fans not only because of Jenkins’ talents but also because Rogue Squadron would likely have some connection to a beloved series of Legends novels. While first seeing some delays due to Jenkins’ busy schedule, the project was ultimately pulled from the release calendar indefinitely, seemingly hanging in limbo. However, with reports emerging that DC Studios was scrapping Jenkins’ Wonder Woman 3, fans are wondering if this could clear up her schedule for Rogue Squadron.

Prior to the announcement of Rogue Squadron, Lucasfilm earned the reputation of announcing projects that were relatively tentative and would quietly be shuffled around to a point of stagnation or outright cancelled. While Star Wars: The Last Jedi writer/director Rian Johnson’s trilogy (announced in 2017) is seemingly still possible, a series of films from Game of Thrones co-creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss were definitively scrapped. The announcement of Rogue Squadron came with the debut of a polished teaser video in which Jenkins expressed her passion for the project, implying that the adventure was a much more concrete project, though two years later, it seems to have gone the way of Johnson’s trilogy and could be in limbo.

Shortly after the announcement of Rogue Squadron, Jenkins’ Wonder Woman 1984 was released, which came with much more disappointing reactions than its predecessor. Between those disappointing reactions and the various delays due to her schedule, excitement for Rogue Squadron began to dwindle over the months, especially when Lucasfilm revealed that new films were on the way from Kevin Feige and from Taika Waititi.

In the years since that original announcement, the big-screen future of Star Wars has become uncertain, due to not only release-date delays, but also to behind-the-scenes reports regarding the announcement of projects that weren’t definitive. On the small screen, however, things are going quite well, thanks to projects like The Mandalorian and Star Wars: Andor. Additionally, with the franchise earning disappointing responses to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the studio finds itself in a tough spot to revive excitement for the galaxy far, far away on the big screen.

Back in November of 2021, reports claimed that delays related to Rogue Squadron were a result of “creative differences” between Jenkins and the studio. The recent reports about Wonder Woman 3 being scrapped also cite creative differences between the studio and the filmmaker. One of the last updates from anyone directly involved in the project came in July of 2021 from Jenkins herself, giving a promising update on the status of the script.

One surprising update regarding The Walt Disney Company is that Bob Iger is returning to a position of leadership after leaving the company officially just last year, so with Jenkins’ hiring coming under his guidance, his return could also result in renewed interest in her developing Rogue Squadron.

Sadly, with the cancellation of Jenkins’ Wonder Woman 3 not officially announced, there’s a lot of moving pieces of speculation about what the future holds for the filmmaker, with reports about multiple studios citing that there were creative struggles with her making it seem like, even if Wonder Woman 3 is off the table, we shouldn’t expect immediate momentum on Rogue Squadron.

Stay tuned for updates on Wonder Woman 3 and Star Wars: Rogue Squadron.

Are you hoping Jenkins begins to focus on her Star Wars film? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!