‘Rogue Squadron’ Officially Removed From Disney’s Release Schedule, Film’s Fate Remains Unknown
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron will not be taking flight on December 22, 2023 as previously planned, as the film is no longer on Disney’s official release schedule. While many expected this based on credible rumblings and the fact that it didn’t enter production, it has only now been removed from the release schedule. Here are the details.
Variety broke the news that Disney has opted to remove the film, which had already had its production start indefinitely delayed, from its current release schedule. Given that the film needed to start moving forward, as a major film requires months of pre-production, months to shoot, and months to complete in post-production, it was clear that the film was not making a Christmas 2023 release date. With radio silence on the film for months, it was obvious that the studio was going to put the project on the shelf, at least for a while.
Rogue Squadron was initially described as a tale that would “move the saga into the future era” of the galaxy far, far away when it was formally announced at the end of 2020, with the film set to be first Star Wars film that would hit theaters after The Rise of Skywalker in 2019, at the helm of Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins with a script by Matthew Robinson. However, it was rumored that there were issues not only with the director’s schedule (even though she opted to hand the director’s chair for Cleopatra over to someone else while remaining on as a producer for that film), but various unspecified behind-the-scenes issues with development. It currently appears that Jenkins is focused on her work on a third Wonder Woman movie, meaning that if Rogue Squadron is still a project Lucasfilm is moving forward with, it will either be with another creative team, or we’ll be in for a long wait for Jenkins to return.
At this time, it remains to be seen if the film has been outright cancelled or if it’s joined the long list of Star Wars films that appear to be scrapped or otherwise have uncertain fates, given that Lucasfilm’s D23 panel deliberately went without news on the Star Wars theatrical side, as Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy is said to want to wait to announce and date film projects until she feels that they are ready to move forward. Other changes that Disney have made to their schedule are as follows:
- 4/21/23 – Next Goal Wins
- 8/11/23 – The Haunted Mansion
- 11/22/23 – Wish
- 3/1/24 – Elio
- 3/22/24 – Snow White
- 6/14/24 – Inside Out 2
- 7/5/24 – Mufasa: The Lion King
- 9/6/24 – Untitled Marvel Film
Lucasfilm still has Star Wars movies scheduled for December 19, 2025, and December 17, 2027, though it is unknown if those are placeholders or there are concrete projects attached to those dates. It remains to be seen what comes of these dates or the landscape of theatrical Star Wars films in general while the studios current focus is on its live-action Disney Plus shows.
Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.
