Kathleen Kennedy Speaks About Her Reported Lucasfilm Departure

Movies

Reports of Kathleen Kennedy’s departure from Lucasfilm have been greatly exaggerated… or have they? Nobody knows, and a new interview Kennedy did with Deadline is muddying the waters even more. To recap, two days ago, Matthew Belloni of Puck ran a story claiming that Kathleen Kennedy was planning to step down as president of Lucasfilm “by the end of the year,” news he says comes from three sources. Not coincidentally, Kennedy’s contract is up at the end of 2025, so if she’s planning to retire, this would be a logical time to do it. Major entertainment news trades – The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Forbes – ran with the story, lending it credence. Then, CNN said that Kennedy was not stepping down, which is as solid a confirmation of her retirement as you can get. Now, Kennedy spoke to Deadline about the story, and despite the point being to clarify the situation, it answers nothing. Here are her relevant quotes:

“The truth is, and I want to just say loud and clear, I am not retiring. I will never retire from movies. I will die making movies. That is the first thing that’s important to say. I am not retiring. What’s happening at Lucasfilm is I have been talking for quite some time with both Bob and Alan about what eventual succession might look like. We have an amazing bench of people here, and we have every intention of making an announcement months or a year down the road. We are in lockstep as to what that’s going to be, and I am continuing. I’m producing the Mandalorian movie right now, and I’m also producing Shawn Levy’s movie, which is after that. So I’m continuing to stay at Lucasfilm and looking very thoughtfully with Bob and Alan as to who’s stepping in. So that is all underway, and we have every right to make that announcement when we want to make it… George asked me 13 years ago to step in, and now I’m looking at who’s going to replace me… We’ll probably make an announcement months or a year out, and I have every intention of sticking around to help that person be successful. I’m already producing the Mandalorian movie, and Shawn Levy’s is after that… It’s my decision. This is 100 percent my decision.”

So, you get it, right? Neither do I. If I had to guess, I’d say that Kathleen Kennedy and Disney are trying to take control of the news about her stepping down as the head of Lucasfilm by reiterating that she will still be producing a few Star Wars movies and using that to mask her departure from her current position. They probably have a plan, or maybe they were formulating a plan, about how the announcement would happen, but Belloni’s report blindsided them, and now, they’re trying to put the story to bed until they’re ready to talk about it. Kennedy does say they’re in the process of choosing her successor, that an announcement will be “months or a year out,” and that she will remain at Lucasfilm to help whoever takes her place find their footing. When asked point blank if she will be stepping down this year, she leaves herself some wiggle room by saying she doesn’t know. She also emphasizes that she’s sticking around to produce movies like The Mandalorian and Grogu and the film Shawn Levy is developing. It seems like she’s obfuscating the issue, tying in producing some movies with being the president of Lucasfilm, while admitting that her successor is close to being named. So, while nobody knows for sure right now, I think the initial report was right, but Disney and Lucasfilm are trying to frame it in a way where they look like they’re in control, as opposed to a pair of studios who had a major development leaked to the media before they wanted it to be.

My stance on this is the same as it was two days ago, and the same as it’s been since the sequel trilogy was so ridiculously bungled: it doesn’t matter if or when Kathleen Kennedy leaves because what’s been done to Star Wars under her stewardship can’t be undone. This is a different situation than something like Marvel, for example; Marvel movies and shows mostly suck now, but they never did anything to suggest that Iron Man didn’t happen, or Thanos wasn’t really defeated, or Captain America actually failed to stop the Red Skull. They’re doing their damnedest to denigrate the original heroes, but it’s not retroactive like it is in the Star Wars sequels (with the exception of Nick Fury, who apparently never achieved anything and took credit for the work of his alien spies). She-Hulk took an obvious potshot at Tony Stark once, but it came off as an insufferable woman complaining about someone she never met and an event she didn’t understand; the audience knows who Stark is and what he did, and that isn’t taken away. Star Wars, on the other hand, established that Luke Skywalker screwed up the rebuilding of the Jedi and then ran away while other people died for his mistakes, that Darth Vader didn’t actually kill the Emperor and save the galaxy he’d previously threatened, that the New Republic ended up being almost as evil as the Empire before it was destroyed through sheer incompetence, and that Han Solo abandoned his family. You can’t right that ship. Kathleen Kennedy can stay or go; the result will be the same either way.

Let us know what you think of the murky nature of Kathleen Kennedy’s departure in the comments!

***

If you want to know what kind of political leanings movies have or just talk about cinema, check out the movie ratings community Criticless.

Get Your Geeks + Gamers merch here!