Based on the number of fans that have been calling for her head every time the franchise suffers a setback, Kathleen Kennedy has to be the most unpopular figure that Star Wars has seen since Jar Jar Binks. The Lucasfilm President wields her control over the beloved sci-fi series with an iron fist, even though a lot of people seem to think that she doesn’t seem to know what she’s doing half the time.
Since Disney purchased George Lucas’ company for $4 billion eight years ago, Kennedy has overseen the two most divisive Star Wars movies ever made, the lowest-grossing live-action installment in the franchise’s history and given Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, Josh Trank, Colin Trevorrow and David Benioff and D.B. Weiss their marching orders after initially hiring them all to direct new projects.
Then when you factor in the extensive Rogue One reshoots that saw Gareth Edwards basically shut out of his own production and the Obi-Wan Kenobi crew getting sent home just as pre-production was gearing up after the studio ordered the script to be restarted from scratch, then the 67 year-old has overseen an awful lot of behind the scenes turmoil in a relatively short time.
With the Skywalker Saga having drawn to a close, Kennedy opened up in a recent interview about where Star Wars goes from here, and it sounds like Disney will be looking to dive deeper into the expanded universe than ever before.
“It’s an ever-evolving process Stories have been told within this universe over the last 40-odd years, and there’s now the realization that this is a mythology that actually spans about 25,000 years, when you really start to look at all the different stories that have been told, whether it’s in books and games. We just need the time to step back and really absorb what George has created, and then start to think about where things might go. That’s what we’ve been doing, and we’ve been having a great deal of fun doing it, and meeting with lots of different filmmakers and talent. There’s so many fans out there and so many filmmakers that have been influenced by Star Wars for so long that it’s a fantastic opportunity to get a sense of who wants to be a part of this. So that’s what we’ve been doing.”
Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni are heavily rumored to be using The Mandalorian as the launchpad for an MCU-style shared universe on Disney Plus, something that former Disney CEO Bob Iger heavily hinted at before his recent departure, and Kennedy seems to agree that the future could well lie on the small screen.
“I do. And I’ve already seen evidence of it. The ability to be very character-driven, with extended storytelling and connected storytelling, I think this space offers us a great opportunity to do that.”
Of course, a huge number of Star Wars fans would be much happier if Kathleen Kennedy was out of the picture, and given how the last few years have turned out, it would be an understatement to say that she’s got a long way to go in order to win them back over.
