Earlier this week reports started to swirl that Kathleen Kennedy was going to be retiring as President of Lucasfilm this year. It was originally reported by Puck, but major trades like Variety and The Hollywood Reporter reported hearing the same thing – though these reports were a bit more conflicted.
Kennedy didn’t wait long to address these reports, however, doing a significant interview with Deadline in which she explained she’s not retiring, but she has been actively working on a succession plan. Kennedy said:
“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 [Iger] and Alan [Bergman] 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.”
Kennedy further explained that they’ve been discussing it “nonstop for the last couple of years” because she obviously won’t be here forever. “George asked me 13 years ago to step in”, she explained, “and now I’m looking at who’s going to replace me.” The fact that they’ve been looking at internal candidates to take over for her certainly lends more credence to speculation that Dave Filoni is positioned to replace her, given his longstanding Star Wars involvement and prominent role in Lucasfilm leadership. Deadline asked Kennedy specifically about him, and she declined to comment on any specific people being considered.
As for when she might retire from Lucasfilm, she said that they will “probably make an announcement months or a year out, and I have every intention of sticking around to help that person be successful.” When pressed on whether she will step down this year, she was very noncommittal, saying they really don’t know at this point. She wanted to make it clear, though, that whenever it happens it will be “100 percent my decision.”
Regardless, it sounds like her work on Star Wars will continue. Given her role as producer on The Mandalorian & Grogu, as well as Shawn Levy’s movie and other projects, Kennedy plans to continue work on Star Wars films even beyond her time as Lucasfilm president. Deadline suggested that means she could be working on Star Wars for another 8-10 years, and though she was noncommittal on that, she agreed it’s possible.
It’s not often that we see reports as strongly and swiftly denounced as this, and I’m really glad that Kennedy went public with this interview to clear things up. But at the end of the day, it sounds like it’s still very possible she could retire as Lucasfilm President this year, though the context is so important. It’s been a multi-year decision process, with Disney leadership, looking at an internal succession plan. She’s not being pushed out, and she’s not going to quit making movies – even Star Wars movies.
This is great news for Star Wars. It hopefully means some stability of leadership amidst the transition, and stability to keep Kennedy on board in some way as producer on some future movies.
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