A major setback for the cinematic side of the Star Wars franchise as Disney has announced that the upcoming Star Wars: Rogue Squadron has been removed from their release calendar.
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron was set for a December 22, 2023 and the window to commence principal photography for the undoubtedly special-effects laden film was undoubtedly closing soon.
The film was set to be directed by Wonder Woman helmer Patty Jenkins and written by Matthew Robinson. Originally announced at Disney’s Investor Day call in December 2020, Rogue Squadron was originally targeted for a late 2022 release and would have been the first theatrical Star Wars film since the wrap-up of the overall Skywalker Saga with The Rise Of Skywalker in 2019. Citing that development was still ongoing and the script was not ready for shooting, Rogue Squardon was pushed back to December 2023 last November.
Jenkins has currently been split between working on this project as well as a third Wonder Woman film for Warner Brothers and producing a Cleopatra film starring her Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot for Paramount. The Hollywood Reporter was unsure if Jenkins and Disney will continue working on Rogue Squadron with the intention of announcing a new release date once they are closer to starting filming.
It is not known what, if anything, Disney will slot into Rogue Squadron‘s now abandoned December 22, 2023 release date. In the meantime, the studio still has two untitled Star Wars films on its calendar – December 19, 2025 and December 17, 2027. The studio does have a number of other Star Wars features in development including a new trilogy from The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson and individual films from director JD Dillard and writer Matt Owens, Marvel studios Kevin Feige and writer Michael Waldron, and director Taika Waititi.