Star Wars Starfighter was announced this year at Star Wars Celebration to the excitement of countless fans. The name itself invokes the classic Star Wars games of a similar namesake Star Wars Starfighter (2001) and Jedi: Starfighter (2002). The film is set to release in 2027, and at the time of announcement was already in production. Just this week, Lucasfilm announced the official casting, which you can view here. Starring Ryan Gosling in the lead role, Starfighter is set just a few years after Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker - a period so far unexplored in the franchise.
The announcement itself is a pleasing departure from Lucasfilm’s modus operandi for announcing new projects. In the past the studio would take a Marvel-esqu approach - announce a smattering of projects ranging across the next three-to-five years of release dates, encapsulating a variety of characters, teams, and genres. These announcements would include a new Trilogy by Rian Johnson, the Game of Thrones duo Benioff and Weiss trilogy, a Taika Waititi film, and the notorious Rangers of the New Republic. All of these projects would be cancelled years after their announcements after years of radio silence.
Now, it seems, Lucasfilm has learned from this approach of over-promising and underdelivering. Starfighter is now in full swing of production and already was at the time of announcement. While sill two years off from release, we know for a face that the film is indeed coming out. As exciting and as much as a breath of fresh air Starfighter seems to be, I can’t help but reminisce about another forgotten Star Wars project.
Avid readers may notice a glaring omission from the aforementioned announced and ultimately canned projects: Star Wars Rogue Squadron. In late 2020 it was revealed that Patty Jenkins would helm a big screen adaptation of the beloved video games and novels of the same name and promise to draw heavy inspiration from them. The film would "introduce a new generation of starfighter pilots as they earn their wings and risk their lives in a boundary-pushing, high-speed thrill-ride, and move the saga into the future era of the galaxy." You can view the announcement video below.
The script would continue development while Jenkins continued work on Wonder Woman 3 and a Cleopatra film. Interestingly enough, she would leave the latter to focus on the former which would eventually be cancelled amid the establishment of the new DCU. In 2022, Kathleen Kennedy would announce that the project would be pushed to the right to make room for Taika Waititi’s filmed which would also be ultimately cancelled. Just a few months later, it was confirmed that Rogue Squadron was removed from Disney’s release schedule (cancelled), but Jenkins would confirm she was still connected to the project after Wonder Woman 3’s cancellation. Despite this confusing status, Kennedy would say in an interview that the project still happen as a film or series.
The purgatory of Rogue Squadron is extremely disappointing for several reasons. First, Rogue Squadron is an immensely popular series of video games and novels within the franchise dating as fat back as 1998. Secondly, Star Wars is at its best when it is inspired by what inspired George Lucas to make the original movie in 1977 - sci-fi serials, westerns, and samurai films. Recently Star Wars seems to be more inspired, well, itself. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing in isolation, there is a clear difference in where the inspiration comes from in the final product. What would a Star War movie look like if it was inspired by something else? What would Top Gun look like in a galaxy far, far away?
That brings us to perhaps the most disappointing reason, which is Patty Jenkins’s personal connection to the film. You can gain a small glimpse of this from the announcement video above. Jenkins’s father was Captain William T Jenkins, an Air Force fighter pilot. He was awarded a Silver Star for actions in Vietnam. For the uninitiated, the Silver Star is the third-highest award in the US military, only below branch-specific service awards and the Medal of Honor. You wouldn't be too far off by saying Captain Jenkins was a certifiable war hero - not everyone gets awarded a Silver Star. Unfortunately, he was killed during an exercise when Patty was just seven years old. Her father would be her inspiration to “one day make the greatest fighter pilot movie of all time.” It seems Jenkins really believed this was a chance to honor her father.
So where does this tie back into Starfighter? As the name would suggest, the film seemingly would follow a motley crew of star pilots. Details are fairly slim as far as plot details, but the subtitle and connection to the video games’ namesake are at least something to go off of. However, excitement for those disenfranchised by Rogue Squadron’s treatment is justified. The film may very well be a litmus test for how audiences would accept an ace pilot adventure film sans lightsabers. Pair this with Patty Jenkins resigning a contract to revive Rogue Squadron in March 2024, hope may vary will live on for a Top Gun in a galaxy far, far away.
Are you excited for Star Wars Starfighter? Are you still holding out for Patty Jenkins’s Rogue Squadron? Regardless, let us know what you think about these upcoming projects. As always if there’s something you’d like to see from the Spaceport sound off in the comments below! Until next time, maty the Force be with you - always!