Star Wars: Rogue Squadron Absent From CinemaCon Presentation, Still Has 2023 Release Date

This year's CinemaCon in Las Vegas is officially underway, which has brought with it some exciting updates about beloved franchises, though one announced project that Star Wars fans are still curious about is the movie Star Wars: Rogue Squadron from filmmaker Patty Jenkins. The project was announced back in December of 2020, which included an announcement video in which Jenkins shared her excitement about the endeavor, yet, aside from a release date delay due to the coronavirus pandemic, few details about the project's status have been unveiled, which has left audiences scratching their heads about its current status.

Disney's presentation spotlighted beloved franchises like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Indiana Jones, and Avatar. To the disappointment of fans, not only was Rogue Squadron omitted from the presentation, but a graphic that featured the upcoming slate of Disney's films didn't include the logo of the upcoming adventure. Understandably, this would cause some speculation that the project was quietly being scrapped, but when Disney released their full slate of scheduled releases following the in-person presentation, Rogue Squadron still had the same December 22, 2023 release date.

Following the announcement of the film, there were a number of timetables available in which the project could have been brought to life, such as spending 2021 in pre-production to then shoot in 2022 to make a 2023 release. Reports emerged late last year that the project wouldn't ultimately shoot in 2022 due to Jenkins' commitments to a third Wonder Woman movie, though neither Lucasfilm nor Disney offered any updates on the project's status. 

Rogue Squadron isn't the first Star Wars film to undergo a number of delays, with Lucasfilm having announced back in 2017 that Star Wars: The Last Jedi writer/director Rian Johnson would be developing a trilogy of films. Nearly five years later, there's still no update on when, or if, that project will move forward. Similarly, Game of Thrones co-creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss were announced to be developing a series of Star Wars films, only for that partnership to dissolve and those plans be scrapped.

A report from last December pointed towards creative conflicts as the reason Lucasfilm and Jenkins were facing delays in production, yet without any updates from either the studio or the filmmaker herself, it's difficult to deduce what the status of the project might really be.

With Star Wars Celebration being held in a month, it's possible that Rogue Squadron was omitted from the CinemaCon presentation to instead make an announcement at the fan event.

Stay tuned for details on the future of Star Wars: Rogue Squadron.

Are you hoping the project moves forward? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!