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Credit: LucasfilmFollowing news of her potential retirement as the head of Lucasfilm, studio president Kathleen Kennedy has addressed the rumors while sharing what’s next for the almost five-decade-old Star Wars franchise.
Kathleen Kennedy Retiring?
Lucasfilm hit a crossroads earlier this week as it was reported that longtime president Kathleen Kennedy was expected to step down later this year, marking a major shift for the Star Wars franchise. While speculation about her departure has been swirling for some time, the focus now turned to one crucial question: Who would step in to lead the iconic studio?
Reports indicated that former Lucasfilm executive Rayne Roberts was being positioned as Kennedy’s successor, but she recently departed for a senior VP role at Searchlight Pictures.
Among the names reportedly under consideration, via The Hollywood Reporter, is current Lucasfilm Chief Creative Officer Dave Filoni, a longtime steward of Star Wars storytelling, who has worked on The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, and The Bad Batch in addition to his live-action contributions with The Mandalorian and Ahsoka.
Filoni’s frequent collaborator, Jon Favreau, is also a strong contender, having helped launch the franchise’s streaming era. Meanwhile, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, who was previously set to produce a Star Wars film project before it was scrapped, has also been floated as a possibility.
Other names said to be in the mix include filmmaker J.J. Abrams, former 20th Century Studios executive Emma Watts, and Netflix’s Hannah Minghella.
Lucasfilm Executive Speaks Out
However, after so many swirling reports, it seems Kennedy is not retiring, but admits there has been an action plan in place when it comes to her eventual successor. In an interview with Deadline, Kennedy stated “loud and clear” that she was not retiring from making movies, saying she would “die” making them.
“What’s happening at Lucasfilm is I have been talking for quite some time with both Bob [Iger, Disney CEO] and Alan [Bergman, Disney Entertainment] about what eventual succession might look like,” Kennedy told the outlet. “We have an amazing bench of people here, and we have every intention of making an announcement months or a year down the road.”
After discussing the future of her role in the industry, the discussion quickly turned to what the future of Star Wars filmmaking looks like–and the executive’s answers proved very revealing.
Despite multiple announced film projects, Lucasfilm has struggled to bring another Star Wars movie to the big screen. In 2023, Kennedy unveiled three new films at Star Wars Celebration, but since then, a surprise project—The Mandalorian and Grogu, set for 2026—has taken the lead.
Meanwhile, James Mangold’s Dawn of the Jedi film and Dave Filoni’s Mando-Verse project remain in development, while Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s Rey Skywalker-centric film recently acquired another writer amid speculation of its standalone status.
Shawn Levy and Patty Jenkins have been linked to Star Wars films, but as of now, Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian and Grogu is the only film with a set release window.
Notably, Disney recently dropped a planned December 2026 Star Wars release in favor of Ice Age 6 from 20th Century Studios.
With so many names floating, it seemed that Lucasfilm was set on its projected slate. However, that changed when the studio revealed Simon Kinberg had been tapped to bring a new trilogy to the galaxy far, far away–and it seems that it’s well underway.
“We’re absolutely rolling fast and furiously. That has gone exceptionally well, and he’s literally going to script as we speak. We’ll see something probably around June,” Kennedy explained.
“Simon, if you remember, he did some work with us years ago with the animated show, which was a really wonderful collaborative experience. And he then got very, very busy with X-Men and then recently became available again, and he segued into this space beautifully. We’re really excited about where that’s headed.”
Interestingly, the Lucasfilm leader seemingly revealed that these new movies would begin Star Wars‘ next chapter by moving on from the Skywalker Saga: “This is the next iteration, the new saga that moves us into the future,” she said.
As for the Shawn Levy movie that is supposedly starring Academy Award-nominee Ryan Gosling, Kennedy confirmed that would be produced next (after Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian and Grogu) and will take place–like Kinberg’s movies–after Star Wars: Episode IX–The Rise of Skywalker (2019).
That’s also in the future. It’s all post-[the first] nine. Shawn’s is a standalone Star Wars story that’ll take place post-nine, maybe five or six years out. And Mandalorian really stands on its own because there, we’re dealing with a whole other era in the New Republic. We have other development going on in that space as well. So that’s the space that we’re pretty much focused on right at the moment, because obviously with Mandalorian we have a pretty good sense of where that’s going. And with this, it’s all pretty much new characters. We may bring some of the characters back from the sequel saga, but pretty much new characters.
This is the clearest and most confident explanation fans have gotten regarding the future of the Star Wars franchise in years, and it looks as though Lucasfilm is hoping to shift into new spaces in tone, storyline, and character focus.
In the interview, Kennedy also referenced Taika Waititi’s movie, which had previously been rumored to have been scrapped, and explained she was waiting for his schedule to free up.
Disney’s Star Wars
Just three years after Disney’s $4.05 billion acquisition of Lucasfilm in 2012, the company launched its first major Star Wars installment, Star Wars: Episode VII–The Force Awakens (2015), under Kennedy’s leadership.
The J.J. Abrams-directed film was a box office juggernaut, surpassing the billion-dollar mark and reigniting excitement with the return of beloved legacy characters like Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Han Solo (Harrison Ford), and General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher), while introducing a new generation of heroes and villains.
But the sequel trilogy’s legacy proved divisive. Rian Johnson’s Star Wars: Episode VIII–The Last Jedi (2017) polarized audiences, while The Rise of Skywalker, once again helmed by Abrams, left many fans dissatisfied with the franchise’s creative direction.
Since then, Disney has pivoted to streaming, investing heavily in The Mandalorian, Andor, Ahsoka, and The Acolyte, though not every series (such as the latter) has matched the fan success of The Mandalorian.
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