An era of Star Wars is over.
Kathleen Kennedy is stepping down as the head of Lucasfilm. Two people will replace her. Dave Filoni, a long-time Lucasfilm fixture of Star Wars TV, will head the creative side of the company as its President and Chief Creative Officer, while executive Lynwen Brennan will serve as Co-President.
According to StarWars.com, Kennedy is “stepping down” to “return to full-time producing.” (Kennedy is still involved with both upcoming Star Wars movies, The Mandalorian and Grogu and Star Wars: Starfighter as a producer.)
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Kennedy had a long and very successful career as a producer before she ever got involved with Star Wars. She co-founded Amblin with Steven Spielberg and her future husband Frank Marshall, and she produced such Spielberg classics as E.T. and Jurassic Park. Her producer resume also includes Twister, The Sixth Sense, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
She joined Lucasfilm shortly before George Lucas sold his company — and with it, the rights to both Star Wars and Indiana Jones — to Disney. After the sale, Kennedy became the head of the entire company, a position she held until now as she over saw the relaunch of the Star Wars film franchise, and its first major entry into streaming television.
Her tenure at the helm of Lucasfilm was marked by enormous success in its early stages, including the massive grosses of Star Wars: The Force Awakens and the huge popularity of Disney+’s The Mandalorian. But her recent years at Lucasfilm have been rockier. Some films, like The Rise of Skywalker, proved unpopular with fans. Others, like Solo: A Star Wars Story, were marked by creative upheavals and bombed at the box office. The one Indiana Jones movie she made, Dial of Destiny, was one of the biggest flops in history (even if it’s kind of a good film).
Numerous creators became involved with Star Wars projects that never saw the light of day, including Patty Jenkins and Marvel’s Kevin Feige. Six years passed between The Rise of Skywalker and the upcoming Mandalorian film. Just a few weeks ago, news leaked that Steven Soderbergh and Adam Driver wanted to make a Star Wars film called The Hunt For Ben Solo but Disney turned them down.
The next Star Wars movie, The Mandalorian & Grogu, is scheduled to open in theaters on May 22.
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