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Vice President of Lucasfilm Kathleen Kennedy feels “relieved” after stepping away from the “Star Wars” franchise. George Lucas he hand-picked the longtime producer to lead the company after selling it to Disney in 2012. The franchise has faced heavy criticism during its time, especially about the series series, which began with “The Force Awakens” in 2015 and ended with “The Rise of Skywalker” in 2019.
Kathleen Kennedy talks about the ‘Unthinkable Challenge’ she faced at Lucasfilm
While speaking to The Hollywood Reporter at Bloomberg’s Screentime’s annual event in Los Angeles, Kathleen Kennedy was asked how she felt after directing Lucasfilm for the past fourteen years.
“I guess there’s some relief,” she said. “These jobs are not easy, and it was an incredible challenge to step into something like George had created.
She also pushed back on the widespread belief that Lucas had given her his own ideas for the sequel trilogy. Kennedy said Lucas told her, “It’s all here,” as she pointed to her head, prompting her to reply, “I said, OK, well that’s going to be interesting trying to do that for me.” She also said Lucas gave her “two paragraphs” of story ideas, but there was no official treatment.
Kennedy Shares The ‘Most Magical Thing’ About Her Job
While talking to Brad Stone, editor at Bloomberg business weekshe also talked about the “hardest” aspect of her job at Lucasfilm.
“Well, I think that’s the challenge of every franchise [face]certainly something that has been around now for 50 years. You have people where this means a lot to them,” she said. “But at the same time, the challenge is to try to create something new, something original. So finding that balance is really the hardest thing. “
She also said that she has to pay attention to fans “without making it a referendum”.
Kathleen Kennedy shares what aspects of her job she is most proud of
Kennedy went on to say that she was happy with how she handled the relaunch of the film franchise, starting with “The Force Awakens” in 2015. This was followed by 2016’s “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” 2017’s “The Last Jedi,” 2017’s “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” and 2019’s “The Rise of Skywalker.” That was the last “Star Wars” movie to hit theaters until “The Mandalorian and Grogu” will be released in May 2026.
Kennedy said she was also proud of the release of “Andor” and “The Mandalorian,” two of the most successful Disney+ series released during her tenure. However, she did not receive specific information about any shows, such as “The Acolyte” or “The Book of Boba Fett,” which she might regret.
“I mean, I don’t think you can do anything in the movie business where everything is going to be a hit,” she said instead. “I think you learn things, I always like to learn things from the films we make, the postmortems we do on what worked, what didn’t work. But I’m always proud of the work that was done.”
Kennedy briefly addressed the turmoil behind ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’
In 2017, Kennedy removed Phil Lord and Chris Miller from “Solo: A Star Wars Story” due to creative differences. Ron Howard was later brought in to clear the film before its release in 2018. When asked what that situation was like, Kennedy replied, “Well, that only happened once, thank God.”
However, she also dismissed director Gareth Edwards when it came time to finish “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” in 2016. Tony Gilroy, who later worked on both seasons of “Andor,” was brought in to finish the project.
“I didn’t need to do that. There are a lot of complicated situations that come up that definitely reach a point where you have to make a difficult decision like that,” said Kennedy. “Certainly, my history shows that I have worked with many different directors, that I have made many types of films, and that I have never been in such a situation.
Caitlin Kennedy still feels that this is what George wanted
When Disney bought the company for $4.05 billion in 2012, no one could have predicted how bad the sequel trilogy would get. However, Kennedy said this is what Lucas wanted.
“I guess Star wars It was a perfect buy for Disney, and that’s what George wanted,” she said.
Since her retirement, longtime “Star Wars” chief creative officer Dave Filoni and chief executive Lynwen Brennan have taken over Kennedy’s role. However, she is still producing “Star Wars: Starfighter,” which is scheduled to be released in May 2027.
