Patty Jenkins to Become the First Woman to Direct a Star Wars Film with Disney's Rogue Squadron

Patty Jenkins is making history here on Earth and in a galaxy far, far away!

During Disney's Investor Day event on Thursday evening, the entertainment conglomerate announced that the 49-year-old director and screenwriter is set to make history when she becomes the first woman to ever helm a Star Wars film.

Set to be released in three years around Christmas 2023, the new film will be titled Rogue Squadron and will follow a series of pilots across the vast Star Wars universe.

No other details about the project — including casting — have been announced.

Posting a video to Twitter about her next directing role, the Wonder Woman and Wonder Woman 1984 director is seen rollerskating as she details what the opportunity means to her.

Sharing that she loves "to most fast and speed of any kind," Jenkins then explains that she "grew up the daughter of a great fighter pilot."

"Every day I would wake up and go outside and look up and see my father and his squadron taking off in their F4's, roaring across the sky. It was the most thrilling thing still I've experienced in my entire life," the history-making director continues. "So when he lost his life in service to this country, it ignited a desire in me to turn all of that tragedy and thrill into one day making the greatest fighter pilot movie of all time."

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Then, detailing that as much as she tried, she "couldn't find the right story, ever," and "kept looking and looking."

She added: "But I just couldn't find the right one. Until now."

Then, putting a helmet on her head reminiscent of the ones worn by the characters in the Star Wars franchise, Jenkins suits up in an accompanying orange jumpsuit as she walks towards a CGI flyer jet, ready for her next directing adventure.

Prior to directing Wonder Woman, a project that made her the first woman to direct a major superhero film, Jenkins wrote and directed the 2003 crime drama Monster and also directed the pilot episode of the AMC series, The Killing.

Though she is the first woman to direct a Star Wars film, she is in good company with other women who have played important roles in the saga's journey.

Per Variety, Victoria Mahoney served as a second unit director on The Rise of Skywalker, while Deborah Chow directed an episode of The Mandalorian's first season. She is also set to helm the upcoming Disney+ series, Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Elsewhere, Bryce Dallas Howard has also directed episodes for both seasons of The Mandalorian, and recently even revealed that she included a nod to her father, Ron Howard, and his Apollo 13 in one episode.

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