During the Lucasfilm portion of Disney’s Investor Day presentation, Kathleen Kennedy announced that they’re putting a Star Wars: Rogue Squadron move into production, and it will be helmed by Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins. There weren’t many details beyond that, but this is a historic move as Jenkins will become the first woman ever to direct a Star Wars feature film.

Jenkins shared a story on Twitter that was surprisingly personal. She talked about how she lost her fighter pilot father and wanted to make the greatest fighter pilot movie ever made; Rogue Squadron will give her that opportunity. So this isn’t just a Star Wars movie for her, but a way to express her love for her late father, which is very sweet and makes me incredibly excited to see what she’ll do with the material.

For those unfamiliar with Rogue Squadron, the group goes all the way back to the Battle of Yavin in A Star Wars: A New Hope with the attack on the Death Star. Stories of the squadron have lived on in various video games and novel series, but this will be the first time the squadron has gotten a feature film all to themselves. A big question is obviously when does Jenkins plan to set her movie since the “Rogue” designation is largely one belonging to the original series (in the sequel trilogy, they become the Resistance, and so Rebel/Rogue kind of goes out of fashion). While I doubt they’d include Luke Skywalker, the most famous of the Rogue Squadron pilots, I wouldn’t be surprised if they made Wedge Antilles, one of the surviving members of the Battle of Yavin, a central figure in this story.

Kennedy also revealed that the film is due out at Christmas 2023. What that means for a third Wonder Woman movie is a mystery, although it’s possible that Jenkins could work on Wonder Woman 3 in 2021/2022 before using the later half of 2022 and some of 2023 to get Rogue Squadron into theaters. It’s also possible that, given the COVID situation and how timelines are being condensed, that Wonder Woman 3 will be handed off to another director.

However it shakes out, it looks like Rogue Squadron will be the first Star Wars movie in theaters since The Rise of Skywalker since Taika Waititi’s Star Wars movie remains undated and his next project is Thor: Love and Thunder. It’s possible they could get it in by late 2022, but since they didn’t provide that date, I think Lucasfilm is being patient and letting Rogue Squadron take the lead.