If everything had gone according to plan, we’d be neck deep in Patty Jenkins project right about now. Back in 2020, she was announced to lead the next wave of Star Wars movies with Rogue Squadron, with a release date set for December 2023. Pretty sure that one never happened. Not only that, but Jenkins had Wonder Woman 3 pulled out from under her by the confused state of Warner Bros. management in the time before James Gunn launched DC Studios.
Things change, and certainly the landscape is different now than it was a few years ago. Appearing on TCM’s “Talking Pictures” podcast, Jenkins gives very different updates to both projects. Starting with Rogue Squadron, she now says the film is back on at Lucasfilm. Although to be fair, it was never truly canceled, just shelved or delayed so she could work on Wonder Woman 3…which never happened.
Jenkins says, “So, when I left “Star Wars” to do “Wonder Woman 3,” I thought ‘maybe I’ll come back to “Star Wars” after “Wonder Woman 3″. So we did a deal for that to happen, started a deal, but I thought I was doing “Wonder Woman.” When that went away, Lucasfilm and I were like, ‘Oh, we gotta finish this deal.’ We finished the deal right as the strike was happening. So I now owe a draft of “Star Wars” and so we will see what happens there. You know, like, who knows?”
Where exactly would Rogue Squadron fit in the upcoming crop of Star Wars movies that include a Daisy Ridley-led Rey Skywalker film, a Mandalorian-centric one by Dave Filoni, and another by James Mangold?
Jenkins adds, “It’s hard; they have a hard job in front of them of what’s the first movie they’re gonna do. They have other directors who have been working, but I am now, you know, I’m back on doing “Rogue Squadron,” and we’ll see what happens. We need to develop, you know, get it to where we’re both super happy with it.”
So a bit of positive news there, even if it’s still uncertain. How about Wonder Woman 3? James Gunn got any plan to bring it over to the DCU? Uhhhhh, no. Jenkins says she’s done with the character.
Jenkins said with some finality, “Yeah, for the time being, or easily forever. Easily forever, yeah.”
While you sense some sadness and resentment from Jenkins, she also understands that Gunn and Peter Safran have a tough job at DC…
“No, they’re not interested in doing any Wonder Woman [films] for the time being,” Jenkins said. “Listen, it’s not an easy task what’s going on with DC. James Gunn and Peter Safran have to follow their own heart into their own plans, so I don’t know the ‘why’ of what they’re planning on doing and why, and so I have sympathy for what a big job it is. They have to follow their heart and do what they’re interested in and do what they’ve got planned.”
It’s just nice to know that Jenkins has something that she’s working on and that she’ll be back on the big screen soon. I feel that Wonder Woman 1984 was unfairly trashed, and she’s been on the ropes ever since. But Rogue Squadron could be what puts her back into fans’ good graces.