According to reports, Taika Waititi’s Star Wars film will be released before Rogue Squadron. It was first reported in January 2020 that Waititi had been approached by Lucasfilm to helm a Star Wars picture, which they confirmed on May 4th of that year. Waititi and Krysty Wilson-Cairns will collaborate on the screenplay (1917). Waititi was no stranger to the Star Wars universe, having directed and voiced the character IG-11 in The Mandalorian season 1 episode ‘Chapter 8: The Redemption.’
As Lucasfilm focused on another project, Rogue Squadron, no definite plans for Waititi’s feature were revealed. Lucasfilm appeared to be all-in on Rogue Squadron, releasing a video announcing the project and Wonder Woman 1984 director Patty Jenkins as the director, with the film planned for release on December 22, 2023, at Disney’s Investor Day in 2020. Rogue Squadron, on the other hand, was reported to be delayed in November 2021 due to creative conflicts behind the scenes. There has been no update on the project, and no statement was made at Lucasfilm’s Star Wars Celebration 2022 presentation.
Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy announced in an interview with Total Feature that Waititi’s Star Wars picture would be the next Star Wars film to be released. Kennedy confirmed that it will be released in 2023, but later in the year, hinting that it will take the slot previously reserved for Rogue Squadron. She did say that no date has been set in stone and that it could change at any time.
A lot of circumstances could delay the release of the next Star Wars film, which is scheduled for December 2023. One is Waititi’s busy schedule, as he is still working on Thor: Love and Thunder, which is set to be released in theatres on July 8, 2022, which means the filmmaker would have to start prepping his Star Wars picture now in order to begin filming immediately after the release of the newest Marvel blockbuster. Following the discovery of Rogue Squadron’s production troubles, Paramount Pictures set the release date for Star Trek 4 for December 22, 2023. As a result, one of the studios would have to move their release date because they would most likely not want to release Star Wars and Star Trek at the same time.With no word on any plot details, it is still too early to determine what the next Star Wars movie will be, yet hopefully, the project starts moving along quickly.