Lucasfilm President Kathy Kennedy reportedly signs three-year contract extension!

One of the most accomplished producers in movie history is staying at Lucasfilm for another few years at least. According to Matthew Belloni, a former editor at The Hollywood Reporter who now writes for Puck Newsletter, Kathleen Kennedy recently signed another three-year contract extension.

Though that’s not exactly official confirmation, it seems to be corroborated a bit by the fact that Frank Marshall, Kennedy’s husband and an acclaimed producer in his own right, retweeted a tweet about it. I’m not sure if we’ll get any sort of official announcement from Lucasfilm or Disney about it, but it certainly seems like it has already quietly happened. And this shouldn’t come as a big surprise either, since her previous three-year extension came in 2018, so she was due for another one.

This extension will run through 2024, which should span the release of the next theatrical Star Wars film(s) (whether that be Rogue Squadron or something else taking its previous slot), the next (and presumably final) Indiana Jones film, a Willow series on Disney+, and tons of Star Wars shows coming to Disney+ as well.

Kennedy was hand-picked by George Lucas to take over Lucasfilm in 2012, a few months before the company was bought by Disney. By that point she was already one of the most successful producers in the industry, having produced movies such as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Jurassic Park (among many others), and she worked as a producer on every Indiana Jones film as well. Since taking over Lucasfilm, she has produced The Force Awakens, Rogue One, The Last Jedi, Solo, and The Rise of Skywalker, as well as The Mandalorian – the first ever live-action Star Wars series. Two of those projects, The Force Awakens (4th) and The Last Jedi (14th) are among the highest-grossing movies in history, and four of the five theatrical releases have grossed over $1 billion.

Star Wars fans are very fortunate to have one of the industry’s best producers leading Lucasfilm, and the three years ahead look to be the best time for the franchise we’ve had, given all the content coming. I’m glad Kennedy will continue leading things for at least three more years!