James Whitehead
A long time ago, in a galaxy, far, far away… Star Wars was seen as the unshakeable entity, one that could never fail. Fast forward to 2025, the fanbase is confused, divided and uncertain. But these emotions only go to reflect the attitudes held by the leadership, who have, slowly but surely, chipped away at the rock-solid image of the brand. But now it seems the big decision makers have finally had enough.
Star Wars, under Lucasfilm, was bought by Disney for $4.05 Billion back in 2012 from its’ original creator, George Lucas. Lucas installed his long-time assistant and Hollywood producer extraordinaire, Kathleen Kennedy, to run the company. Kennedy has had an extremely enduring and successful career in Hollywood as a producer. And has probably produced, at least, one of your favourite films growing up.
Here’s just a small slice of her Producer CV for reference:
- E.T
- Back to the Future
- Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
- Jurassic Park
- Hook
- Schindler’s List
- Twister
- The Sixth Sense
- Signs
- War of the Worlds
- Munich
Clearly, when it comes to getting a film made, and to a high quality, Kathleen Kennedy is incredibly proficient. So, there weren’t that many concerns when she was originally asked to run Lucasfilm for Disney. But being the head of a studio is still a very different role to being a producer and it is in these areas where Kennedy has let herself down over the last decade.
Whilst fans can, and certainly have, debated the overall quality of Disney’s sequel trilogy. In the larger picture for Disney, it’s less a quality issue and instead one of quantity. They didn’t buy Lucasfilm to make a Star Wars movie every 6 years, which is now the time that has passed since their last theatrical release, ‘Episode IX- The Rise of Skywalker’. Of course in that time there has been some success on streaming, with shows like ‘The Mandalorian’ & ‘Andor’, Star Wars has and always should be a movie franchise. It’s this lack of production, planning and follow-through on the big screen which has drawn so much negative focus and attention on Kennedy.
After all, when you have a potential cash-cow like Star Wars, you need someone that’s going to be able to milk it consistently, and on that point, Kennedy has failed for several years.
So, when news broke on February 24th that Kennedy will be stepping down from her role within the next few years, many were left unsurprised, instead feeling a sense of inevitability to the outcome. The real fascinating element to the news was how much of this idea truly was Kennedy’s. And not a push from those above her at Disney, who are desperately trying to reinvigorate some of their underperforming properties right now, Star Wars being the main one.
Whilst some of this boardroom talk can seem a bit stiff, fans of the property know that for them to get consistent, well-made Star Wars content again; there needs to be a shake up in management before we can see this come to fruition.
Whilst we wait for more news about potential successors for Kathleen Kennedy, fans can at least look forward to the one current Star Wars film actively in production, John Favreau’s ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’, which is set to his theaters on the 22nd of May, 2026. But only time will tell if this ends up being Kennedy’s last film as the head of the studio.
For all updates on Star Wars and the excitement of a new Lucasfilm CEO, be sure to follow along, right here.
