If one has been following along with all the Star Wars drama then you know about how directors keep coming and going. Not just on films like “Solo” and “Rise of Skywalker” but also in regards to the movies coming out after the controversial Disney trilogy.

One director that has been on again and off again is Patty Jenkins. The ‘Rogue Squadron’ film was said to be delayed due to scheduling issues. Then there were rumors of “creative differences.” However, those issues were allegedly fixed and Jenkins stepped down from directing ‘Cleopatra’ for the ‘Star Wars’ film.

Now it’s come out that not only was Jenkins excited to do the project for personal reasons, but writer Mike Stackpole has apparently said that she was in contact with him early on as well. For those unfamiliar, Mike Stackpole is the author behind the ‘X-Wing: Rogue Squadron’ novels back in the 1990’s.

This information comes from this Tweet:

Not every day you get to chat with one of your favorite #StarWars authors. Great meeting Michael Stackpole who told me he was highly excited about the upcoming #RogueSquadron movie and assured me Patty Jenkins had been in contact with him early on. #GalaxyCon @ScarifPodcast pic.twitter.com/x2EKk7JzYg

— just brad (@Jedi4Liberty) March 19, 2022

Apparently this fan talked to Mr. Stackpole and learned about this.
(side note, if you do get to read this Mr. Stackpole, I was a fan of those books.)

If true, this would be very exciting for old school fans and fans of the EU/Legacy books. However, the reality of creating this film might make it harder for fans to get something based, even loosely, on those novels.

This is evidenced by the comments on Twitter:

now this is the kind of thing that I like hearing about Star Wars. I have high hopes for RS, and the X-Wing series is my fav SW book series pic.twitter.com/LHhgG55fMO

— Com Fans #ActionAF #MakeSolo2Happen #StopAsianHate (@ActionafFans) March 21, 2022

When you start getting VERY hopeful for the Rogue Squadron movie…@daveweter https://t.co/8DTFKqhKqr

— Aaron Henley (@ahenley2011) March 21, 2022

We know that one of the rumors that put the film “indefinitely on hold” was that Kathleen Kennedy and Lucasfilm seem to be incredibly difficult and hard to work with for many directors. This has been cited in the past with other directors that have left over “creative differences” on a number of other projects and we even saw the ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ show be completely reworked because she didn’t like it.

Here are some comments Kennedy gave on the ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ situation:

“We’re looking, ultimately, to make a hopeful, uplifting story. And it’s tricky when you’re starting with a character in the state that Obi-Wan would be in coming off of Revenge of the Sith. That’s a pretty bleak period of time. You can’t just wave the magic wand with any writer and arrive at a story that necessarily reflects what you want to feel.”

However, fans are starting to be concerned the more we learn about the show. It seems they are having two fights between Darth Vader and Obi-Wan, which fans feel ruins the battle in ‘A New Hope.’ There have also been rumors that much of the show will focus on Princess Leia and not his mission to protect Luke. Disney has made choice in the past that fans felt were unfair to the hero of the series.

Of course this is all rumor and not necessarily what will happen.

Rumors of micromanagement and decisions by committee is something that has been mentioned many times before.

Directors are excited initially then they often drop out after having to deal with Kathleen Kennedy and Lucasfilm.

Comicbook.com even pointed out in a previous article they did citing HR editor Matthew Belloni’s, newsletter that said “Jenkins was frustrated by the micromanagement of select Lucasfilm executives, eventually opting to pursue other opportunities while Lucasfilm worked on fixing its internal problems.”

That was why it was delayed.

Belloni also had added:

“That’s not unusual, of course, but it’s a laughably recurring problem at Lucasfilm under president Kathleen Kennedy, say agents: Top filmmakers are dying to make a Star Wars movie—until they sign on and experience the micromanagement and plot-point-by-committee process.”

Not every ‘Star Wars’ project seems to have issues:

Disney / Lucasfilm have seemed to have greater success with their Disney+ shows like “The Mandalorian.” Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau have seemingly been given more oversight on those types of projects with varying levels of success. Directors seem more keen to work on those over the films. And now we have Legacy characters popping up in their shows like Grand Admiral Thrawn.

If it was true that Patty Jenkins talked to Mike Stackpole, and her intention was one of gaining insight or collaboration, I would have a lot of hope for that film. But if it’s still a situation where it’s all being micromanaged and run through committees, like we’ve seen with other films, my excitement will drop considerably.

What do you think? Comment and let us know!

Sources: Comicbook.com, Fansided