Dave Filoni and Lynwen Brennan Take Over Lucasfilm After Kathleen Kennedy’s Exit

The change in leadership at Lucasfilm has been long expected, but Kathleen Kennedy’s exit is a seismic shift for Star Wars

Fans have a lot of unanswered questions about the future of Disney and Lucasfilm’s Star Wars franchise, now that it has been officially announced that Kathleen Kennedy is stepping down as President of Lucasfilm after 14 years.

Kennedy was George Lucas’ handpicked successor and someone who shared in part of his vision, presiding over the ever-expanding science-fiction world of Star Wars and more since The Walt Disney Company acquired its rights back in 2012. Under her leadership, Lucasfilm would go on to amass billions in box office revenue and help make the Disney+ platform become a go-to streaming destination. Some will say it was time for her to step aside, while others will say she should have stayed, reflecting on the recent polarizing nature of her long tenure.

While she emphasized in her outgoing interview over at Deadline that her departure was her own decision, not a push-out, she will remain involved as lead producer in the upcoming films The Mandalorian & Grogu and Shawn Levy’s Starfighter.

“It has been a true privilege to spend more than a decade working alongside the extraordinary talent at Lucasfilm,” Kennedy in a statement. “Their creativity and dedication have been an inspiration, and I’m deeply proud of what we’ve accomplished together. I’m excited to continue developing films and television with both longtime collaborators and fresh voices who represent the future of storytelling.”

As we say goodbye to Kennedy, the studio will now enter a new era with an executive duo at the helm: President and Chief Creative Officer Dave Filoni will take charge of creative development for the franchise across film, television, and other platforms. He’s established himself almost entirely on the small screen, entering the franchise with the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars and was the man behind the creation of the well received Disney+ series Ashoka.

Filoni, who was also the lead executive producer on the series The Mandalorian, the ever-popular The Book of Boba Fett, and the “Goonies”-like adventure Skeleton Crew, will be joined by Lynwen Brennan, who will now serve as co-president, overseeing the business strategy, franchise operations, and production. She has been with Lucasfilm since 1999 and brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the table.

“My love of storytelling was shaped by the films of Kathleen Kennedy and George Lucas. I never dreamed I would be privileged to learn the craft of filmmaking from both of them,” said Filoni. “From Rey to Grogu, Kathy has overseen the greatest expansion in Star Wars storytelling onscreen that we have ever seen. I am incredibly grateful to Kathy, George, Bob Iger and Alan Bergman for their trust and the opportunity to lead Lucasfilm in this new role, doing a job I truly love. May the Force be with you.” Filoni said via StarWars.com

The plan moving forward for Filoni and Brendan will reportedly focus on establishing a “cohesive roadmap” for the franchise, emphasizing interconnected storytelling that bridges animation, television, and film. Although this will take some time before major changes can take place, fans must be patient.

In Kennedy’s Deadline interview, she spoke about the current state of Star Wars and shared details about projects currently in progress and ones that have been derailed or shelved altogether. One of those projects was the long-rumored Star Wars trilogy from Simon Kinberg that looks like it has finally moved beyond the early writing stage.

“He’s working right now. He wrote something that we read in August, and it was very good, but not there. We’ve pretty much upended the story, and then spent a great deal of time on the treatment, which he finished literally about four weeks ago. And it’s a very detailed treatment, like 70 pages. And so he is expected to give us something in March.” Kennedy said.

Her Star Wars trilogy plans are probably the news fans want to hear about the most, but other projects do exist, such as James Mangold’s Dawn of the Jedi, Taika Waititi’s solo adventure, and a Donald Glover-led Lando film.

“I’ve got to tread a bit carefully here”, the former Lucasfilm President prefaces. “Jim Mangold and Beau Willimon wrote an incredible script, but it is definitely breaking the mold and it’s on hold. Taika has turned in a script that I think is hilarious and great. It’s not just my decision, especially when I’ve got a foot out the door. Donald Glover has turned in a script.”

Other film projects outside of those remain in the works or sometimes…not in the works such as Daisy Ridley’s New Jedi Order film or the most talked about cancelled project, Adam Driver and Steve Sodenberghs The Hunt for Ben Solo. All still appear to be a mystery if they’ll happen at all.

Interestingly enough, Kennedy did seem to indicate the cancelled Driver and Soderbergh Ben Solo film wasn’t exactly fully dead, though it seems like it would take a bold move from Filoni and Brennan to make it happen.

The Rey standalone New Jedi Order film at one point seemed a sure bet, but now appears to have effectively disappeared from existence.

Daisy Ridley seemingly doesn’t believe her film is dead; she’s been hinting that it remains on track through various interviews over the course of the last several months, urging fans to be patient while expressing overall excitement and confidence in the project, stating the story should “be wonderful” and “worth the wait,” emphasizing it’s a natural continuation of Rey’s journey. Although, strangely enough, Kennedy remained relatively silent on this project.

The former President of Lucasfilm also reflected on her decade-long tenure leading the franchise talking about the highs and lows.

“The highs include realizing how many people love Star Wars. The majority of people, and certainly the people that I run into, and people outside the business, love Star Wars. They love the movies; they might love all the shows, or they might love some of the shows,” she said.

“The lows are that you’ve got a very, very small percentage of the fan base that has enormous expectations, and basically they want to continue to see pretty much the same thing. And if you’re not going to do that, then you know going in that you’re going to disappoint them. I’m not sure there’s anything you can do about that because you can’t please everybody. All you can do is try to tell good stories and try to stick to the essence of what George created,” she said.

If there’s anything she regretted during her time as President, it was the misfire that was Solo: A Star Wars Story. She mentioned that she fundamentally realized, “you cannot replace Han Solo, at least not right now,” and that even though Alden Ehrenreich was “wonderful” and “really good” at playing the part, she realized after its release that it was a miscalculation with regard to the timing of it all.

“I brought Larry Kasdan in on, and we were so excited about that idea. And then when you’re into something and you realize fundamentally, conceptually, you cannot replace Han Solo, at least right now. As wonderful as Alden Ehrenreich was, and he really was good, and is a wonderful actor, we put him in an impossible situation. And once you’re in it and once you’re committed, you’ve got to carry on. I think I have a bit of regret about that, but not about the moviemaking and filmmaking. I don’t have regrets about that. I just think that conceptually, we did it too soon.”

The Ron Howard-led Solo would go on to take in just over 300 million worldwide and become Lucasfilm’s first major Star Wars disappointment at the box office. For the record, Solo is one of my favorite films of the Kennedy era. It’s a lot of fun.

Other failures beyond the Solo film weren’t just with the Star Wars franchise; it also included Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, which proved to be an expensive misfire for the studio, even with long-time Indy fans begging for Harrison Ford’s return.

Despite stepping down, she will remain a producer on upcoming theatrical releases.

“I told everybody I would stick around a bit longer than I had intended, but I am so ready to go off and have the chance to make lots of movies,” Kennedy confirmed.

Whatever happens with Lucasfilm moving forward, it will be in the hands of Filoni and Brennan to develop a clear concrete plan for Star Wars and other projects moving forward. The duo must fully commit to the films that they announce over the next few year. Fans have been subjected to too many false starts that haven’t seen the light of day, and that is where some of the waning enthusiasm around Star Wars is coming from. It’s hard for fans to feel excited about any announced projects when half of them never materialized.

Before I sign off, the most exciting part of Kennedy’s interview with Deadline was her comments that the Ben Solo movie was once in production. When Driver mentioned that he and Soderbergh had handed in a script to her, but it was turned down, it had to have been disappointing for him because it’s still the only time that a Lucasfilm Star Wars project had ever been declined by top brass. That rejection could’ve been what led Driver to finally break the silence on the project.

Ever since the Driver told ApNews.com that the film was canceled, fans have been endlessly voicing their opinions loud and clear, desperate to see the story come to fruition, even going so far as to launch full-fledged campaigns with billboards, posters, and banners flying over Walt Disney Studios in California.

The transition from Kennedy to Filoni and Brennan comes at a time when Star Wars isn’t really expanding in new directions beyond Ashoka or animated series such as Maul: Shadow Lord. It is now a moment of renewal, reflection, and full of possibilities. The duo is described as a “powerful pairing” that seeks to balance artistic instinct with organizational skill intended to provide a “seamless” avenue for the next chapter of Lucasfilm.

As of now, only time will tell where Filoni and Brennan will take us. But one thing is for sure, I’m sure it’s going to be the stuff of legends. But let’s not forget that Kennedy revitalized the magic of Star Wars while many felt it was lost. In one of her final statements in her outgoing interview, she defends her tenure. It’s a definitive statement of accepting one’s history and feeling proud of the path taken, regardless of criticism.

“I wouldn’t do that any differently, and I wouldn’t change anything that we’ve done over the years. I understand why some people may like certain things more than others, but that’s not going to change why I decided to do certain things and why I decided to work with the people that we worked with.”

Thank you Kathleen Kennedy!! Thank you for all of the amazing Star Wars stories.

May the Force be with you…