{"id":372889,"date":"2026-01-16T07:45:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T07:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/372889\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T07:45:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T07:45:11","slug":"kennedy-on-status-of-star-wars-projects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/372889\/","title":{"rendered":"Kennedy On Status Of &#8220;Star Wars&#8221; Projects"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>            <a href=\"https:\/\/cdndark.darkhorizons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/kennedy-on-the-status-of-star-wars-projects.jpg\" data-caption=\"Lucasfilm\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"696\" height=\"464\" class=\"entry-thumb td-modal-image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/kennedy-on-the-status-of-star-wars-projects-696x464.jpg\"   alt=\"\" title=\"kennedy-on-the-status-of-star-wars-projects\"\/><\/a>Lucasfilm<\/p>\n<p>Following the official announcement of her retirement from Lucasfilm today, Kathleen Kennedy has given an exit interview with <a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/2026\/01\/kathleen-kennedy-exit-interview-1236665253\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Deadline<\/a> in which she speaks about the status of various \u201cStar Wars\u201d projects.<\/p>\n<p>Kennedy exits at a time when the film division of the franchise is ramping up, while the fate of various projects in development remains in question.  Here\u2019s a breakdown of where things stand with the various films:<\/p>\n<p>Simon Kinberg<br \/>The one with the most movement.  A script draft was submitted in August which was \u201cvery good, but not there\u201d.  The story then got reworked with a 70-page treatment that he\u2019s working from ahead of delivering a new full script around March.  Incoming chiefs Filoni and Brennan are said to be strongly onboard with this trilogy launcher.<\/p>\n<p>James Mangold<br \/>Mangold and Beau Willimon (\u201cAndor\u201d) are penning the film, the one set tens of thousands of years before the original trilogy, which she says \u201cbreaks the mold\u201d and is \u201cincredible\u201d but adds it\u2019s \u201con hold\u201d and on the \u201cback burner\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Donald Glover &amp; Taika Waititi<br \/>Both films are still alive, with Glover and Waititi having turned in completed scripts for both films, Waititi\u2019s she dubs \u201chilarious and great\u201d.  The incoming leadership will determine whether either project goes ahead.<\/p>\n<p>Others<br \/>Kennedy confirms Steven Soderbergh\u2019s completed script for \u201cThe Hunt for Ben Solo\u201d is done, but the project is not happening.<\/p>\n<p>Neither David Fincher nor Alex Garland has made formal commitments, but they did have exploratory early discussions.<\/p>\n<p>No mention is made of Patty Jenkins\u2019 \u201cRogue Squadron\u201d or Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy\u2019s \u201cNew Jedi Order\u201d films.<\/p>\n<p>Kennedy also says filmmaker Rian Johnson was \u2018spooked\u2019 away from making more \u201cStar Wars\u201d films after the backlash to \u201cStar Wars: The Last Jedi\u201d.  She says: \u201cI think Rian made one of the best Star Wars movies. He\u2019s a brilliant filmmaker and he got spooked. This is the rough part. When people come into this space \u2026 every filmmaker and actor says to me, \u2018What\u2019s going to happen?\u2019 They\u2019re a little scared.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kennedy will remain as a producer on the next two \u201cStar Wars\u201d films \u2013 \u201cThe Mandalorian and Grogu\u201d opening in May, and \u201cStar Wars: Starfighter\u201d opening in 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lucasfilm Following the official announcement of her retirement from Lucasfilm today, Kathleen Kennedy has given an exit interview&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372890,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[94966,96,2839,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-372889","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-bigslider","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-movies","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=372889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372889\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}