Ahead of the Star Wars Celebration in Tokyo, a report announced that Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy plans to exit the company by the end of the year. She was not fired, as many random online rumors have suggested, but she has retired after producing many films over her decades-long career in Hollywood. She originally took over as Lucasfilm president from creator Geroge Lucas when Disney purchased the rights to Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Willow in 2012 for $4 billion (via The Walt Disney Company).
Her tenure with Star Wars has been extremely up-and-down as she helped produce great projects like Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Rogue One, Andor, and The Mandalorian. She has also produced duds like Han Solo and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Not to mention a plethora of unmade Star Wars projects that have come and gone from their initial announcements to ultimately being shelved by her for a multitude of reasons. It’s unknown who will take over for Kennedy, but it’s expected that director and writer Dave Filioni and Jon Favreau will have some say in the direction of Star Wars moving forward. Filoni has been George Lucas’ “apprentice” of sorts, expanding the lore of Star Wars since creating Star Wars: The Clone Wars and working on The Mandalorian.
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Source: Variety
