Disney Has Canceled A Highly Anticipated Star Wars Movie
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron from Patty Jenkins has been pulled by Disney.
The Star Wars Universe has grown significantly since Disney bought the property for $4 billion in 2012, and it is continuing to grow under the Disney umbrella along with the Marvel brand. After the sequel trilogy that brought an end to the Skywalker Saga, attention was shifted to the rapidly growing Disney+ streaming content with The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor, and The Bad Batch. There were multiple films in production to expand beyond the Skywalkers, including Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, which according to a report by Variety, is now off the release calendar and back on the shelf.
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron is said to be a completely original film not based on any movies, books, or video games centered around a new crop of starfighter pilots getting their wings. The film is meant to push the franchise into the future by introducing new characters and new corners of the galaxy in the same way The Mandalorian did for Disney+. The film was removed from the release calendar as part of schedule changes that include Snow White, Inside Out 2, and Mufasa: The Lion King.
The shelved film was slated to be the next release in the Star Wars Universe and landed Patty Jenkins as a director, known for her work on Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman 1984, Monster, and The Killing. The film also landed Matthew Robinson to pen the script, known for his writing talents on The Invention of Lying, Love and Monsters, and Dora and the Lost City of Gold. No cast or other information about the Star Wars: Rogue Squadron plot has been released, and there is no word on whether the other movies in the franchise, including projects by Taika Waititi, Rian Johnson, and Kevin Fiege, would still be moving forward.
In December of 2020, Patty Jenkins posted on her Twitter that she grew up with a father in the military, watching him fly his F4s and that he died in Vietnam. She then expressed her deep desire and a lifelong search for the perfect story to tell in a film about fighter pilots, which she had yet to find. She then revealed she had found the ideal story, donned a rebel fighter pilot helmet, and began walking towards a classic Star Wars X-Wing fighter, telling her fans that she would see them soon in Star Wars: Rogue Squadron.
The cancelation news should come as no surprise since Star Wars: Rogue Squadron has been in trouble for quite some time, mainly surrounding conflicts between Patty Jenkins and Disney Star Wars head Kathleen Kennedy. Jenkins has been connected to Wonder Woman 3 and Cleopatra, which scheduling issues brought tension between the two, and could have been a contributing factor to the decision to cancel the film altogether. With Warner Bros. Discovery shaking up everything in the DC Universe, Patty Jenkins’ troubles with films on the chopping block may be just beginning, and the success of Disney+’s new crop of episodic series may have shifted the company’s focus away from the less beloved films they have released so far.
