Credit: LucasfilmYesterday the news broke that Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy was expected to step down as the leader of the Star Wars studio later this year. While many have theorized this move for a while, not least because of how lackluster the franchise has been received since Disney’s 2012 acquisition, it brings the reality of choosing her successor to light.
Who will The Walt Disney Company choose to replace George Lucas’s handpicked executive? And will it be the name–or names–almost synonymous with the galaxy far, far away?
Disney purchased Lucasfilm for over $4.05 billion over a decade ago in 2012, but it wasn’t until 2015 that the House of Mouse put their money where its mouth was and dropped the first feature film in the new Star Wars sequel trilogy.
Star Wars: Episode VII–The Force Awakens raked in over a billion dollars during its theatrical run, with fans excited to see the return of the original trio (Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker, Harrison Ford’s Han Solo, and Carrie Fisher’s General Leia Organa) as well as the new direction Disney would take the franchise.
From new characters like Daisy Ridley’s Rey and John Boyega’s Finn to the resurgence of dominating galactic powers and evil forces such as Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) and Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis), J.J. Abrams’s The Force Awakens brought Star Wars back to the big screen with a bang–but the sequel trilogy’s legacy would come to be tainted.
Rian Johnson’s Star Wars: Episode VIII–The Last Jedi (2017) and Abrams’s Star Wars: Episode IX–The Rise of Skywalker (2019) became deeply polarizing, leaving fans disappointed with Disney’s direction. Of course, now, the Mouse is yet to bring another feature film to the big screen and has been opting to grow its streaming offering with the likes of The Mandalorian, Andor, Ahsoka, and The Acolyte.
Not all television projects (The Acolyte) have been as well received as the studio’s first outing with The Mandalorian, and the stagnant movie slate has done nothing to help Kathleen Kennedy’s reputation. Over the years, movie projects have been revealed and dismissed time and again.
At Star Wars Celebration 2023, Kennedy revealed three movies, only for Lucasfilm to then announce a surprise Mandalorian movie–The Mandalorian and Grogu–will lead the slate and arrive in 2026.
Reports confirm that James Mangold’s “Dawn of the Jedi” movie will be in production, as will Dave Filoni’s Mando-Verse project. As for the Rey Skywalker-centric Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy movie, the project recently gained another new writer and is expected to be a standalone after Simon Kinberg was tapped to bring a new trilogy to the franchise, largely thought to be Episodes X, XI, and XII.
Then there are Shawn Levy’s and Patty Jenkins’ efforts, but nothing concrete is on the calendar apart from Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian and Grogu. In fact, Disney scrapped a December 2026 Star Wars release in favor of 20th Century Studios’ Ice Age 6.
All that to say: whoever takes the reins of Lucasfilm must get the movies back into theaters. But it’s not just about creative direction, as sources told The Hollywood Reporter.
“‘One reason Kathy stuck around for so long is because there is no credible alternative,’ said one person who has many interactions with Lucasfilm leadership,” THR reports. “Sources say former Lucasfilm executive Rayne Roberts, who was at the company for 12 years, was being groomed by Kennedy as a likely replacement. But just last week, Roberts was announced as Searchlight’s new senior VP of production.”
Another Star Wars insider added: “What people don’t understand is that it’s not a creative job […] That’s about 10 percent. The rest of it is dealing with Disney, licensing, and fans.”
It will be no surprise that a few names have already been floated as Kennedy’s potential replacements. Current Lucasfilm Chief Creative Officer and the employee selected by George Lucas many moons ago, Dave Filoni, is obviously top of mind, as is his frequent collaborator Jon Favreau. Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige is also on the radar, according to reports.
Favreau and Filoni are known for establishing and building momentum in the New Republic era of the franchise, with Filoni also shepherding the animated slate with his work on popular shows like Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, and the more recent Star Wars: The Bad Batch. As for Feige, well, he created the sprawling Marvel Cinematic Universe.
According to THR, other names potentially up for the job are J.J. Abrams, former 20th Century Studios executive Emma Watts, and Netflix’s Hannah Minghella.
Regardless of who takes the top spot at Lucasfilm, the workload will be massive as Disney looks to develop and produce stronger content for both the big and small screens, introduce new audiences, and sustain its over four-decade-old fandom.
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