After 14 years guiding Star Wars into the modern era through all its ups and downs, Kathleen Kennedy is stepping down as the president of Lucasfilm. Her departure from Lucasfilm, which is effective this week, has long been expected, but still marks a seismic shift for one of the biggest brands in Hollywood.
Kennedy had already spent decades producing movies such as Indiana Jones and E.T. when she joined Lucasfilm in 2012, taking on the role of co-chair alongside Star Wars creator George Lucas. She was elevated to sole head of the company just a few months later, after Disney paid $4 billion for the brand and Lucas exited.
Kennedy is not totally departing the galaxy far, far away immediately. As part of her exit, she will continue on as a producer on the next two Lucasfilm movies, The Mandalorian and Grogu, coming May 22, and 2027’s Star Wars: Starfighter. She will pursue other projects outside Lucasfilm as an independent producer.
In her wake, EVP and chief creative officer Dave Filoni has been promoted to oversee the creative direction of the company as president and chief creative officer, Lucasfilm. President & GM of Lucasfilm business Lynwen Brennan will handle the business side of things as co-president, Lucasfilm. Splitting creative and the business duties is a common Disney strategy, with Pixar run by Pete Doctor and Jim Morris, and Walt Disney Animation overseen by Jared Bush and Clark Spencer.
Filoni and Brennan will report to Alan Bergman, co-chairman, Disney Entertainment.
Kennedy’s exit closes out one Star Wars era and launches a new one, with the elevation of Filoni and Brennan posing many questions with few answers yet revealed. One thing is certain: after a period of relative inactivity as the Kennedy succession was settled, Lucasfilm could see development go into hyperdrive under the new leadership.
Producer Ram Bergman, director Rian Johnson, and Kathleen Kennedy on the set of Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
David James/Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures/Lucasfilm Ltd./Courtesy Everett Collection
Filoni was mentored by Lucas and came up through the world of animation, overseeing beloved series such as The Clone Wars before teaming with Jon Favreau on live-action shows such as The Mandalorian and Ahoska. Brennan joined Lucasfilm in 1999 and rose to president of Industrial Light & Magic before assuming her current role in 2015, overseeing all of business for the company.
Kennedy was a veteran producer boasting eight best picture Oscar nominations on titles such as The Sixth Sense and Lincoln when she took over Lucasfilm and worked quickly to move into the new era of Star Wars movies. She courted J.J. Abrams to direct Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the $2 billion grossing feature that launched a new trilogy in 2015. It was the first Star Wars feature since 2005’s Revenge of the Sith and met the moment of pent-up demand with a mix of nostalgia and new characters. It stands as the top grossing movie of all time at the domestic box office with $936.6 million. More movies followed annually, including the $1 billion grossing Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, The Last Jedi ($1.33 billion), Solo: A Star Wars Story ($392.9 million) and The Rise of Skywalker ($1 billion).
It was not always smooth sailing. Kennedy fired filmmakers Phil Lord and Chris Miller as directors of Solo, replacing them with Ron Howard mid-production. The film became the first Star Wars movie to lose money in its theatrical run. During the production of Rogue One, she sidelined director Gareth Edwards, with Tony Gilroy brought in to overhaul the movie. And while that move engendered plenty of sky-is-falling narratives, the move proved to be savvy as the movie became a major critical and financial hit, and later led to Gilroy’s critically adored and Emmy-winning Disney+ prequel series Andor.
Following Rise of Skywalker, which received a mixed response, Disney put Star Wars movies on pause, with CEO Bob Iger acknowledging it produced too many movies too quickly. Over the past decade, Lucasfilm went through stops and starts as it promised movies that failed to materialize, including projects from Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, Last Jedi filmmaker Rian Johnson and Taika Waititi. A movie starring Daisy Ridley has been stuck in development since it was announced in 2023.
It now has two films on the way, with Mandalorian and Grogu arriving May 22, and Shawn Levy’s Star Wars: Starfighter dated for May 28, 2027.
While the movie side of Star Wars faltered after Rise of Skywalker, Kennedy’s decision to bring in Favreau to create and launch the first live-action Star Wars TV series proved to be a win beyond anyone’s expectation. The Mandalorian shot Baby Yoda into popular culture and the initial seasons not only restored Star Wars’ golden stature but also became the flagship show for Disney+ when it launched in late 2019.
The series that followed, however, had mixed results, with one, the 2024 series The Acolyte, being outright rejected by a certain faction of the sometimes intemperate fan base. Andor, on the opposite end of the spectrum, showed Star Wars could be used to tell stories with political themes. It became a showcase for its actors and ended its run with five Emmys and 22 nominations. Overall, Star Wars series under Kennedy have landed 85 Emmy noms. Coming up will be a second season of Ahoska and the animated Maul: Shadow Lord series.
Lucasfilm in recent years also undertook reviving Ron Howard’s Willow series on Disney+, as well as a fifth and final Indiana Jones movie, but neither found the hoped for audience.
The new leadership arrives with its own set of questions. Filoni is known for his intimate and arcane franchise knowledge, which served him well in animation, but less so in live-action. Season three of The Mandalorian and season one of Ahsoka dealt with intricate facets of interclan rivalry and Jedi witches that was perhaps too in the weeds for casual viewers. He was also due to make his live-action feature directorial debut with a movie that combined characters from these the series, but that movie was put on the backburner and Favreau’s The Mandalorian and Grogu is now opening this spring.
Observers point out that under Filoni and Brennan, the franchise could see a continuing of many of the practices and priorities set forth under Kennedy. After all, both have been at Lucasfilm for years and are part of the institution.
Others point out that the company stepped back from announcing projects, both feature and TV, last year, as Kennedy negotiated her exit and a search for successors took place. For all intents and purposes, the company was spinning its wheels. Now, these sources say, the company can move ahead with full force as it seeks to recapture the excitement and creativity of a more civilized age.
