Compared to a lot of directors, Patty Jenkins doesn’t have a lot of credits to her name, but downplaying her isn’t a wise idea since she’s already come up with a few different hits that people would thrust in the air like battle flags to ward off any haters. That’s all well and good, there’s no reason to doubt her or state that she doesn’t have that much experience yet compared to the long-timers and legends in the business, but there is one thing to be said about bringing her into the Star Wars family. She hasn’t done it yet, and truth be told, she doesn’t have the experience of dealing with the pressures that come with Star Wars. She’s been great when it comes to DC and has given Wonder Woman a voice and a firm setting in the DC universe, but Star Wars isn’t DC. The fanbase is different, the feel is different, and despite the fact that a lot of Star Wars has been changed by those in charge, it hasn’t all been for the better. Bringing Patty in to direct Rogue Squadron, a name that is known to many upon many Star Wars fans is an iffy proposition at best since she’s a proven director to be certain, but it’s also been proven that her movies do tend to have very strong female role models in them. This is a positive note since Star Wars needs this, but it’s a big hope that Rogue Squadron will remain what it’s been in the books, as a mix of individuals that are all uniquely skilled and carry a great deal of expertise in their own fields, and are of course exceptional pilots.
The downside of this is that anyone that remembers reading the Rogue Squadron books, which were all X-Wing stories as this is where Rogue Squadron excelled, Wedge Antilles was the commander for quite a while, and the men within the squadron were often just as tough if not tougher than the women, who were also among the best fighters that the Rebels had. But where this feels as though it could go off the rails, if it does at all, is that Jenkins definitely likes setting up strong female characters and has used them as her lead characters in a few different ways. This is hard to argue with when talking about movies like Monster and Wonder Woman, but with Rogue Squadron the hope is that we won’t see a group of men being outdone and outclassed by women that, in the stories, are just as awesome but aren’t so far above their squadmates. In other words, keeping the squad as equal as possible would be great to see since Rogue Squadron isn’t all about one person, it’s about a team that comes together and uses their strengths to create a stronger unit that at one point was known to strike fear in the hearts of many Imperials since they were just that good.
It might be a completely ungrounded fear that she’ll want to prop up a female lead in this movie, but seeing her track record to date, along with the fact that she’ll be coming out with a Cleopatra movie in 2022, kind of gets a person thinking that she’s going to be more prone to favor female characters over anyone else when it comes to her line of focus. Granted, that could be completely erroneous thinking and she could use the group dynamic of Rogue Squadron to its full extent, but we’re going to have to wait and see. One comfort out of all of this is that she does have the kind of talent needed to bring a story such as this to life, and in that regard, it should be interesting to see what she comes up with. Rogue Squadron has been one of the best parts of the Star Wars novels, but given that the movies haven’t really done much more than cherry-picked the Legends canon, it’s easy to think that the movie will be far different than the stories many people have already read. That’s regrettable to be certain, but it’s still necessary to give the idea a chance and see what Patty might come up with, and what she can do to further the Star Wars universe with another impressive story that people are going to be buzzing about for the next couple of years. A lot can happen in two years, and it’s easy to think that she might come to the conclusion that trying to satisfy as many Star Wars fans as she can would be a wise move since she’s not bound to satisfy them all, as many directors have been unable to do this no matter how great of a reputation they have. All we can do is wait, and hope.
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