{"id":1236717903,"date":"2026-09-30T20:59:16","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T03:59:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/?p=1236717903"},"modified":"2026-10-01T12:08:07","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T19:08:07","slug":"kathleen-kennedy-on-leaving-lucasfilm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/business\/business-news\/kathleen-kennedy-on-leaving-lucasfilm-1236717903\/","title":{"rendered":"Kathleen Kennedy Admits to “a Bit of Relief\u201d in Stepping Down From Lucasfilm After 14 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t\t
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\tKathleen Kennedy admitted to feeling \u201ca bit of relief\u201d after stepping down from Lucasfilm earlier in 2026 following 14 years at the helm of one of the biggest American film franchises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThe longtime producer reflected on the end of her leadership tenure<\/a> in the Star Wars<\/em> universe during a Wednesday night interview devoted to her career at Bloomberg<\/em>\u2019s annual Screentime event in Los Angeles. Asked if she felt \u201cbittersweet\u201c about leaving Lucasfilm, Kennedy said no. \u201cI suppose there\u2019s a bit of relief. These jobs are not easy and stepping into something like that that George [Lucas] had created was an incredible challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tShe recalled asking Star Wars<\/em> creator Lucas, after he handpicked her as his successor at the company, if he had any material she should look at for direction on storytelling. At the time, Kennedy was a longtime creative collaborator or Steven Spielberg, having produced Jurassic Park, Lincoln<\/em> and Munich<\/em>, and had produced other major titles like Back to the Future, Twisters<\/em> and Gremlins<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\u201cHe [Lucas] said, \u2018No, no, it\u2019s all here,\u2019\u201d she said, pointing to her head. \u201cI said, okay, well that\u2019s going to be interesting to try and mine that.\u201d (She added that she received \u201ca couple of paragraphs\u201d with story ideas, but no story treatments.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tKennedy\u2019s tenure at Lucasfilm saw its moments of fan outrage in certain corners (the response to The Acolyte <\/em>was particularly vicious) and praise (Andor<\/em>), with Kennedy the face of the brand during both its peaks and valleys. And interviewer Brad Stone, the editor of Bloomberg Businessweek<\/em>, was quick to ask her about the challenges of satisfying a broad audience including the diehard Star Wars<\/em> fans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\u201cWell, I think that that\u2019s the challenge that all franchises [face], certainly something that\u2019s been around now for 50 years. You\u2019ve got people where this means a lot to them,\u201d she said. \u201cBut at the same time, the challenge is to try to create something new, something original. So finding that balance is really the toughest thing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tStone said certain audiences felt Kennedy listened too <\/em>much <\/em>to certain fans. Did she learn anything from that experience? Kennedy maintained that she needed to pay attention to fans \u201cwithout making that be a referendum,\u201d but also to support artists with clear visions for stories within the Star Wars<\/em> galaxy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tHer proudest accomplishments in the job, she added, were relaunching the film franchise with 2015\u2019s Star Wars: The Force Awakens<\/em> and rolling out the Disney+ series Andor<\/em> and The Mandalorian<\/em>. She didn\u2019t get specific, meanwhile, when asked about any regrets or potential do-overs. \u201cI mean, I don\u2019t think you can do anything in terms of the movie business where every single thing is going to be a perfect hit,\u201d she said. \u201cI think you learn things, I always like learning things from the movies that we do, the postmortems we do on what worked, what didn\u2018t. But I\u2019m always proud of the work that\u2019s been done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tShe also briefly addressed her removal<\/a> of directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller from the film Solo<\/em> in 2017 over creative differences. Asked about what it was like to be an executive charged with dismissing certain people rather than just supporting filmmakers, Kennedy said, \u201cWell, that really only happened once, thank god.\u201d (As The Hollywood Reporter<\/em> reported at the time<\/a>, Kennedy also sidelined director Gareth Edwards during the filming of 2016\u2019s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story<\/em> with Tony Gilroy brought in to finish the project alongside Edwards.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\u201cI wasn\u2019t required to do that. There are many complicated situations that develop that certainly reach a point where you have to make a difficult decision like that,\u201d she added. “Certainly my track record shows that I\u2019ve worked with a lot of different directors, I\u2019ve made many kinds of movies, and I\u2019ve never been in a situation like that.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tKennedy joined Lucasfilm<\/a> in 2012 just before Disney bought the company<\/a> for $4.05 billion that year. Kennedy pointed out that the purchase came with \u201can enormous expectation\u201d from the studio. Still, she was adamant that the Disney acquisition was worth it. \u201cOh, yeah, I think there\u2019s no question,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I think Star Wars<\/em> was a perfect acquisition for Disney and it\u2019s what George wanted. There was no other company he wanted to sell the franchise to other than Disney.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tNow, longtime Star Wars <\/em>creative Dave Filoni and executive Lynwen Brennan are leading Lucasfilm. And Kennedy is returning to independent producing with the company she shares with her husband, the veteran filmmaker and producer Frank Marshall. She\u2019s not entirely leaving the Star Wars<\/em> universe, either, as she\u2019s producing the upcoming Ryan Gosling Star Wars: Starfighter<\/a><\/em> movie directed by Shawn Levy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tAs she faces the brave new world of indie producing in 2026, like a lot of people, Kennedy\u2019s worried about the prospect of the merger of Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery. \u201cI think we\u2019re all worried about that. To have a studio disappear and fewer movies get made, fewer content gets made,\u201d she told Stone on Wednesday. \u201cThe ability for the studios to be able to scale the work that many of us do. I think that\u2019s the biggest worry. We\u2019ll see,\u201d she said. “If it really is 30 movies a year, we\u2019ll see.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tAmid the corporate consolidation and the further incorporation of AI into Hollywood\u2019s workflow, she\u2019s spent the last few months trying to figure out where the industry is headed. \u201cI think it\u2019s just absolutely extraordinary what is going on right now. So rather than form any real opinion or judgment about it, I\u2019m just trying to absorb and meet as many people who are involved in the new technology,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tShe added, nodding to the readjustment following her time at Lucasfilm, \u201cI\u2019m also trying to get reacquainted with people that I\u2019d lost track of. Because you get in a bit of a bubble when you\u2019re doing something like Star Wars.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The longtime producer, handpicked by George Lucas to lead his company, reflected on her time at the top of the \u2018Star Wars\u2019 franchise in an interview on Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1064617,"featured_media":1236717938,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"override_post_title":"","override_post_excerpt":"","authors":[],"contributors":[],"styled_by":[],"_image_credit":"","_wp_attachment_image_alt":"","pmc_selected_wwd_video_media":"","pmc_top_video_source":"","pmc_top_video_duration":"","wwd_top_video_source":"","wwd_top_video_duration":"","pmc_selected_featured_media":"","pmc_selected_video_media":"","pmc_selected_variety_video_media":"","variety_top_video_source":"","variety_top_video_duration":"","pmc_featured_media_has_alt_text":true,"_pmc_featured_animated_media_id":0,"_pmc_featured_video_override_data":"","_pmc_featured_video_override_url":"","_pmc_featured_video_response_data":"","pmc-gallery-linked-gallery":{},"pmc_list_item_description":"","primary_category":"","primary_vertical":"","_mt_pmc_exclude_from_seo":"","_pmc_opengraph_title":"","_pmc_opengraph_description":"","categories":64,"subcategories":65850,"thr-review-summary-credits":"","thr-full-credit":"","thr-review-mpaa-rating":"","thr-review-running-time":"","_synopsis":"","_air_date":"00-00-00","pmc-imdb-id":"","pmc-review-type":"","pmc-review-rating":"","pmc-review-rating-out-of":"","pmc-review-snippet":"","pmc-review-title":"","pmc-review-canonical-link":"","pmc-theatrical-release-date":0,"pmc-director":"","pmc-review-image_attachment_id":0,"thr_post_headlines":"The longtime producer, handpicked by George Lucas to lead his company, reflected on her time at the top of the \u2018Star Wars\u2019 franchise in an interview on Wednesday.","_variety-sub-heading":"","mt_seo_title":"Kathleen Kennedy Admits to \"A Bit of Relief\u201d in Leaving Lucasfilm","mt_seo_description":"Kathleen Kennedy had a frank conversation about her time at Lucasfilm and leaving the 'Star Wars' franchise after 14 years. 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