Patty Jenkins Has A Surprising Update About Star Wars: Rogue Squadron

If there's one thing "Star Wars" fans are well and truly used to at this point, it's big twists and turns — both in the movies and shows themselves, and in the press cycles surrounding them. Even by the franchise's standards, though, the development journey of "Star Wars: Rogue Squadron" has been particularly bumpy.

Originally announced during Disney's Investor Day 2020 as a new original film to be directed by Patty Jenkins ("Monster," "Wonder Woman") and released on Christmas 2023 (via StarWars.com), "Rogue Squadron" immediately piqued fans' curiosity with promises to honor the legacy of the games and books from the no-longer-canonical Star Wars Expanded Universe (via IGN). Then, months and months went by without much in the way of news on the project, with screenwriter Matthew Robinson's June 2021 hiring as the only big development in that time (via The Hollywood Reporter). By November, the writing was on the wall, and an official announcement (also via THR) only confirmed what everyone was suspecting: "Rogue Squadron" had to be delayed due to Patty Jenkins' other scheduled commitments.

Given how many "Star Wars" projects have gotten stuck in the development stage throughout the years, the delay gave fans pause; some feared it was now uncertain if the movie would ever make it to the big screen at all. But, as it turns out, a Deadline scoop on another, unrelated Patty Jenkins project contains some surprising reassurance about the status of "Rogue Squadron."

It's been a busy few years for Patty Jenkins. In addition to her whopping success in the franchise tentpole market, she's also been attached to a very different kind of high-profile studio project: In October 2020, Deadline reported that she was set to direct "Cleopatra," a Gal Gadot-starring biographical drama about the life of the legendary Egyptian queen.

Now, more than a full year later, Deadline has provided an update on "Cleopatra," and apparently Jenkins is out. "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" helmer Kari Skogland is now set to direct the film, with Jenkins stepping down and pivoting to a producing role. The reason Jenkins is stepping down? She's opting to focus on her next two projects — one of them being, of course, "Wonder Woman 3," and the other being ... "Star Wars: Rogue Squadron."

The Deadline item is not focused on "Rogue Squadron," but it does seemingly confirm that the anticipated flick is still happening. As previously reported, the movie won't be able to make its originally planned 2022 production window — but, considering how uncertain things looked for "Rogue Squadron" until about 10 seconds ago, this latest update is really as good as we could have hoped for.