Will Kathleen Kennedy Exit Lucasfim? The Star Wars Studio Drama, Explained

Bombshell revelation was made in February: former editor of The Hollywood Reporter Matthew Belloni reported in his article for Puck that the head of Lucasfilm Kathleen Kennedy had decided to leave.

Kathleen Kennedy Refutes Retirement Rumors… Sort Of

At first, Lucasfilm and Disney representatives refused to comment on the rumors, but a few days later, Deadline published an interview with Kennedy in which she strongly denied her retirement.

Kennedy admitted that, due to her age, she had been discussing possible successors with Disney management for several years, but assured that she would never leave the film industry:

“I am not retiring. I will never retire from movies. I will die making movies.”

However, at the end of the interview, when the reporter asked her directly if she would retire this year, Kennedy replied:

“We really don't know at this stage. There's so much going on, Mike. I don't know.”

Possible Future Presidents of Lucasfilm

As soon as the article was published, speculation about Kennedy's potential successor began. And it turned out that finding one wasn't as easy as fans thought, and the job itself was far from desirable.

Running a company is not a creative job at all; most of the time is spent on deals, licensing products, and dealing with fans.

Soon, all the major industry media were compiling their own lists of potential Kennedy successors. And despite the general perception that the position of Lucasfilm president is more administrative than creative, the top of the lists are filled with creative people.

Among them are Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, and J.J. Abrams.

Status of the Planned Star Wars Projects, According to Kennedy

In an interview with Deadline, Kennedy also discussed the status of most of the projects in development:

• The Mandalorian & Grogu: Filming wrapped in December 2024, and Jon Favreau is now busy with post-production.

• Star Wars: Starfighter: The film has been in development for over a year and a half. It will take place five years after the events of The Rise of Skywalker. Ryan Gosling will play the main role.

• Simon Kinberg's trilogy. Kinberg is currently working on the scripts, and Kennedy expects to have the first versions by June.

• James Mangold's movie about the Dawn of the Jedi era. Mangold has just begun work on the script. Mangold will co-write the movie with Andor and House of Cards screenwriter Beau Willimon.

• Taika Waititi 's untitled movie. Kennedy remains hopeful that she will one day receive a finished script from him.