The Kathleen Kennedy period at Lucasfilm has formally come to an finish. Kennedy might be stepping down from her position at Lucasfilm after practically 14 years on the job and might be transitioning again to full-time producing, Disney introduced on Thursday.
Dave Filoni, the corporate’s Chief Artistic Officer, will function President and Chief Artistic Officer, and Lynwen Brennan might be Co-President. Each have been in senior management roles on the “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones” studio for greater than 15 years. They are going to report back to Disney Leisure Co-Chairman Alan Bergman.
Puck reported in February of final 12 months that Kennedy could be retiring by the top of 2025, one thing the studio denied on the time.
Below Kennedy’s tenure at Lucasfilm, we obtained a brand new trilogy of “Star Wars” movies within the Skywalker Saga that had been field workplace smashes, and “The Mandalorian” and “Andor” have develop into Disney+ streaming hits. However she additionally oversaw a sequence of lows with the likes of “Solo,” a number of different critically maligned “Star Wars” streaming sequence which have slowed the franchise, in addition to a dearth of latest “Star Wars” movies since “The Rise of Skywalker” again in 2019.
Seven years faraway from that movie, Disney will lastly be releasing “The Mandalorian and Grogu,” a big-screen finale to the streaming sequence, and the studio can also be at the moment at work on “Starfighter” starring Ryan Gosling, which is able to open in 2027. A number of different potential movies nonetheless with a revolving door of expertise have began and stopped over current years.
As for the place Lucasfilm heads now, Filoni has been with Lucasfilm since 2005 and has been working intently with George Lucas for years, serving to set up Lucasfilm’s animation studio and main the imaginative and prescient of reveals like “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” “Rebels,” and “The Mandalorian.” He’s additionally at the moment the showrunner for “Ahsoka,” which is in manufacturing for its second season.
“Once we acquired Lucasfilm greater than a decade in the past, we knew we had been bringing into the Disney household not solely one of the vital beloved and enduring storytelling universes ever created, but additionally a workforce of extraordinary expertise led by a visionary filmmaker – somebody who had been handpicked by George Lucas himself, no much less,” stated Bob Iger, Chief Government Officer, The Walt Disney Firm. “We’re deeply grateful for Kathleen Kennedy’s management, her imaginative and prescient, and her stewardship of such an iconic studio and model.”
“Kathleen Kennedy has been an amazing drive within the business for 50 years, and it’s been our privilege to have her right here at Disney main Lucasfilm for practically 14 of them,” stated Bergman. “She has steered Star Wars to unbelievable field workplace heights and introduced a brand new technology of followers into the fold. We recognize having her on board to supply our subsequent couple of movies, and the studio stays in terribly succesful arms with Dave Filoni, who’s a superb storyteller, and Lynwen Brennan, an avid innovator and enterprise chief. They’re deeply passionate and skilled executives who will proceed to drive the studio and Star Wars ahead in thrilling new instructions.”
“When George Lucas requested me to take over Lucasfilm upon his retirement, I couldn’t have imagined what lay forward,” stated Kennedy. “It has been a real privilege to spend greater than a decade working alongside the extraordinary expertise at Lucasfilm. Their creativity and dedication have been an inspiration, and I’m deeply happy with what we’ve completed collectively. I’m excited to proceed growing movies and tv with each longtime collaborators and contemporary voices who signify the way forward for storytelling.”
Kennedy has a profession that stretches again 50 years and has seen her because the co-founder of Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Leisure produce classics like “E.T. The Further Terrestrial,” “Jurassic Park,” “Again to the Future,” “Schindler’s Checklist,” “The Sixth Sense,” and “Lincoln.” In all her 70+ movies have earned 25 Oscars and billions on the field workplace. She was honored with the Academy of Movement Image Arts and Sciences’ Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 2018 and the Producers Guild of America’s Milestone Award in 2022.
“My love of storytelling was formed by the movies of Kathleen Kennedy and George Lucas,” stated Filoni. “I by no means dreamed I might be privileged to be taught the craft of filmmaking from each of them. From Rey to Grogu, Kathy has overseen the best enlargement in Star Wars storytelling onscreen that we’ve got ever seen. I’m extremely grateful to Kathy, George, Bob Iger, and Alan Bergman for his or her belief and the chance to guide Lucasfilm on this new position, doing a job I actually love. Might the Pressure be with you.”
Brennan has been with Lucasfilm since 1999, starting at Industrial Mild & Magic the place she rose via the ranks to develop into its chief in 2009. She was appointed Common Supervisor of Lucasfilm in 2015 and President & Common Supervisor of Lucasfilm Enterprise in 2024. Throughout her tenure, she has guided the corporate via transformative technological shifts with a transparent strategic imaginative and prescient and a dedication to innovation, and her business management has been acknowledged with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Visible Results Society and the distinction of Commander of the Most Glorious Order of the British Empire.
“Lucasfilm has performed such a significant half in my life,” stated Brennan. “It’s a group of inspiring storytellers with a insurgent spirit like no different, and I’m honored to hitch Dave Filoni in main us ahead. I’ve been so lucky to be taught from George Lucas, Kathy Kennedy, and Alan Bergman and have unwavering religion in Dave’s artistic imaginative and prescient for the subsequent chapter on this storied studio’s legacy.”
