Patty Jenkins has spoken about her upcoming Star Wars movie, Rogue Squadron, and the pressure she feels to both honor the legacy of the story and create something new and fresh.
"I think the Michael Stackpole books and the video game, and all of the Rogue Squadron books, there’s an incredible history that it’s really important to honor," Jenkins said in an interview with AP.
"And yet it must be brought to a new age because we have to tell a new story with it, so you’re trying to blend the best of everything and make it the great fighter pilot movie that I’ve always wanted to make as well. And so it’s a big brew of things that you’re trying to put together, and still keep a very simple story."
Rogue Squadron is the name of the first novel in the Star Wars: X-wing series, which was first published in 1996. Written by Michael Stackpole, it follows the creation of a new (you guessed it) Rogue Squadron by legendary Rebel Alliance pilot Wedge Antilles.
A Rogue Squadron video game followed in 1998, which takes place primarily between the events of A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back and features Luke Skywalker’s team of Rebel pilots taking on the Empire. The games include both original starfighters and iconic sequences from the original Star Wars trilogy, like the Death Star trench run and the Battle of Hoth.
She added: "You’re trying to bring the best of yourself and use it to make something beautiful that honors the legacy before you. But of course, it’s a huge amount of pressure, and Wonder Woman was a huge amount of pressure as well, so it’s not a totally new feeling to me, but definitely nerve-wracking."
Jenkins also mentioned that her Star Wars movie is the first of her upcoming projects in the works, with Wonder Woman 3 and her Cleopatra movie, a biopic starring Wonder Woman herself Gal Gadot as the Egyptian queen, taking a back seat for now. Rogue Squadron is currently set for release in December 2023.
While we wait for Rogue Squadron to arrive in theaters, take a look at our list of the other new Star Wars movies coming to our screens soon.
