The future may always be in motion, but at least we now have a good idea what’s next for Star Wars. Rumors have been swirling for over a year, but last week it became official; Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy has now stepped down, with Dave Filoni and Lynwen Brennan taking over as co-presidents. Well-established as George Lucas’ protege, Filoni will be in charge of creative direction while ILM stalwart Brennan heads the studio’s business side.
Kennedy had been appointed by Lucas himself back in 2012, but she became a lightning rod for criticism – not all of it fair. And yet, ironically, last week’s announcements finally explain one of the biggest criticisms of recent years; the franchise’s overall lack of direction and the unexpected decision to move on from a whole host of Star Wars films that had been officially announced at Star Wars Celebration 2023.
Star Wars Celebration 2023 Was Supposed to Set Lucasfilm’s New Direction
I was there at Star Wars Celebration 2023, sat in the crowd as Kathleen Kennedy gave a series of exciting announcements. She confirmed three new movies; a “Dawn of the Jedi” project by James Mangold, a Mandalorian-era film by Filoni, and a “New Jedi Order” film by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy featuring the return of Daisy Ridley. I’ll never forget the buzz when Ridley herself took to the stage, a crucial reminder that the internet really isn’t all that representative of the fanbase as a whole.
And then, as the months passed, everything went strangely silent. Mangold began working on other projects, with “Dawn of the Jedi” apparently not a priority. Filoni wouldn’t say anything about his film. Even Rey’s return began to seem more of a “wait-and-see” than a “sure thing,” despite reports Rey was at the center of Lucasfilm’s plans. Meanwhile, the studio committed to films that weren’t even announced at Celebration 2023, taking a completely different direction.
The new direction was really set in January 2024, with Lucasfilm announcing The Mandalorian and Grogu in lieu of The Mandalorian Season 4. It seemed to be a natural reaction to Disney’s order to ramp up theatrical production, but it came rather out of the blue. Even more surprisingly, in July that year Lucasfilm hired writer Jonathan Tropper to work on a script for Shawn Levy’s Starfighter. Both these films were clearly the true corporate priorities, as they’ve both now finished filming; The Mandalorian & Grogu is out in May.
In November 2024, Simon Kinberg was hired to begin writing the scripts for a brand new Star Wars trilogy that would essentially serve as the backbone to everything Lucasfilm intend to do going forward. Most viewers assume Kinberg’s trilogy will be the story that actually features Rey after all, with Obaid-Chinoy’s script dropped. It was all rather discouraging for anyone who’d been at Celebration 2023, and who’d actually gotten excited for the things Kennedy announced there. Something really strange was happening.
We Now Know Why Lucasfilm Changed Direction
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There has, however, now been an answer to the frustrating question of what was going on at Lucasfilm. It was slipped in by Kennedy herself in her exit interview, because she confirmed succession planning had been going on for two years; in fact, she’d approached Disney with the names of her replacements two years ago. That would place it in January 2024, exactly when the studio began to change course with The Mandalorian & Grogu‘s announcement. It’s really not hard to figure out what was really going on now.
The logical assumption is that Kennedy took her hands off the wheel in January 2024, with Filoni and Brennan stepping up. Filoni’s own project will have been put on a back-burner because he’s unlikely to have the time to run a studio while making a movie (James Gunn has pulled it off at DC Studios, but he’s a more experienced filmmaker). Rey was identified as Lucasfilm’s most important cinematic asset, and became the center of a trilogy rather than a standalone. Mangold’s wasn’t a priority, with Filoni and Brennan instead pushing Starfighter as part of next year’s 50th anniversary celebrations for Star Wars.
It’s far from ideal, but it does make sense. Leadership changes naturally resulted in a change of direction; the fanbase saw the pivot but didn’t know the leadership changes were happening, and so it all became rather frustrating. It does mean Kennedy leaves under something of a cloud, with her last batch of announcements likely never happening. But at least we can guess what was going on now.
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