With the notable exception of The Mandalorian, every single Star Wars project during the Disney era has suffered from some kind of creative or behind the scenes turmoil, and there’s even been backlash levelled at the hit streaming exclusive over the last couple of weeks after Baby Yoda was accused of genocide and Gina Carano continues to exist.
Whether it be Obi-Wan Kenobi getting scrapped and reworked from the ground up when the crew was ready to go, director Gareth Edwards being locked out of both reshoots and post-production on Rogue One, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller departing Solo with just three weeks of shooting remaining or the countless filmmakers that have boarded the franchise only to leave very shortly after, fans generally tend to point the finger of blame at Kathleen Kennedy.
The Lucasfilm President rules a galaxy far, far away with an iron fist, and is seen by a lot of people as a much bigger threat to Star Wars than Palpatine ever was. However, Kennedy recently chimed in on John Boyega’s criticisms of the beloved sci-fi series, and in a surprising development, the actor revealed that she’d fully supported him after they shared a phone call.
“So I got on a phone call with Kathleen Kennedy and she verbally showed support and we got to have a really nice, transparent, honest conversation that is beneficial to both of us. I think these kinds of conversations, you can go into the realm of sounding like you’re just trying to save your own career, but what is great now is that it is a conversation that anyone has access to. Now people can express themselves about this knowing that any character we love, especially in these big franchises like the Marvels and Star Wars, we love them because of the moments that they are given, we love them because of those moments, and they’re heroic moments that these producers all decide for these characters so we need to see that in our characters that are maybe black and from other cultures.”
Of course, the more cynical folks out there will be convinced that Kennedy is lending her support to Boyega to avoid any further backlash, which isn’t outside the realm of possibility after the studio coincidentally confirmed The Mandalorian‘s season 2 premiere date on the very same day the actor made his opinions known on how he felt about being marginalized as the Star Wars sequels progressed, a move that was seen by many as a diversionary tactic.
