Exclusive: Patty Jenkins No Longer Directing Star Wars Movie
A trusted and proven inside source for Giant Freakin Robot shares that Patty Jenkins is no longer directing her Star Wars movie.
Update: This Giant Freakin Robot exclusive was confirmed, and Patty Jenkins is no longer directing Rogue Squadron in the Star Wars.
Patty Jenkins, the director of Wonder Woman, was previously announced to be making a Star Wars movie called Rogue Squadron. Back in 2020, this was extremely exciting news. It hasn’t been that long since the movie was announced, and yet a lot of doubt has been cast on whether that film is happening, or how. Questions were again raised after CinemaCon. During Disney’s presentation, they left Rogue Squadron off their list of upcoming movies, though later it was confirmed that the Star Wars movie is still set for a December 22, 2023 release. So what gives? A trusted and proven inside source for Giant Freakin Robot shares that Patty Jenkins is no longer directing her Star Wars movie.
So far, this is all our source was able to share. We can speculate that perhaps Disney is waiting to make that announcement until Star Wars Celebration Day on May 26, but that’s only speculation. While our source was clear that Patty Jenkins is no longer directing Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, we don’t know if that means they have a new director for the project yet, which may have an effect on when they make announcements about this.
Patty Jenkins appears to have scheduling problems. She was announced to have stepped away from directing Gal Gadot’s Cleopatra, stepping into a role as a producer. It’s fair to say that she could still be working on Rogue Squadron in another role, like producer, though we haven’t heard anything about that possibility. It’ll be interesting to see if that same adjustment is made on the Star Wars movie. Is Jenkins just more interested in being a producer? Does this have to do with scheduling conflicts with Wonder Woman 3? Did the filmmaker have issues with Lucasfilm?
Of course, it can be confusing when anyone drops a Star Wars project, especially to fans who love this franchise so intensely. Why would anyone walk away from Star Wars? This is particularly confusing given the hype Patty Jenkins displayed in Rogue Squadron’s initial announcement. This wasn’t just a Star Wars movie, it was very much her Star Wars movie. The announcement video was just her talking to a camera, explaining her personal history. She grew up the daughter of a fighter pilot who lost his life fighting in the military. She explained that this history drew her to the Rogue Squadron movie, supported by her love of Star Wars. You can see that video below.
So then, with all that hype, what is pulling Patty Jenkins away from this project? While there’s plenty of room to speculate on issues with the studio, it’s also fair to say that it could just be that Patty Jenkins is being called away to other areas in her work, or other interests in her life. We have no way of knowing unless she decides to share. Until that time, if it comes, it’s hard to believe that Lucasfilm is going to find someone else to take on the project and get it up by that December 2023 release date. Hopefully, Star Wars Celebration Day in May will bring more answers.
