Somehow, Star Wars Returned
Matthew Belloni
If the change in leadership atop the James Bond franchise a few days ago was a complete and utter shocker, this is almost the opposite. Really, more of a finally:
It’s happening: After years of speculation, and polite urging from observers like me, Kathleen Kennedy has informed Disney, as well as friends and associates, that she will exit as Lucasfilm president by the end of the year, per three sources. Disney and Kennedy’s personal publicist declined to comment.
Not a huge shock, of course. Kennedy will be 72 in June, and the legendary movie producer will have run Lucasfilm for 13 years as George Lucas’s handpicked steward under Disney. Kathy was actually planning to leave last year, I’m told, and had even set up an exit interview with a journalist, but she decided to stay for one more year.
The reality here seems to be that while it has been clear for years that Kennedy needed to go, Disney was not going to show her the door for a whole host of reasons, mostly historical, relating to not only her relationship with Lucas but also, of course, her close partnership with Steven Spielberg over many years in producing many of the most iconic films of all time alongside her husband, filmmaker Frank Marshall. All of this coupled with the mess that was Disney for a few years there when Bob Iger made one of his few real mistakes in picking Bob Chapek to succeed him (before ultimately having to come back – yes, somehow, Iger returned!). And ultimately, as the years went by, the situation would ultimately sort itself out, of course, when she retired. Which she now has.
Look, this is harsh. Kennedy wasn't all bad. The initial move to bring back Star Wars under Disney with The Force Awakens was a masterstroke. Sure, people can argue about the film itself, namely in just how closely it hewed to the original film, but clearly the audience felt like it did the job it needed to do. The problems started after that. It's not clear they had an actual plan after that first film. The second film in that trilogy, The Last Jedi, directed by Rian Johnson was certainly interesting, but it pushed new boundaries to the point where many original fans hated it. The fact that he seemingly retconned a lot of what Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams did in that first film was... weird. But okay, it was a vision and choice. After that, it became total madness. For the third film, undoubtedly seeing the reaction to the second film and having just fired the director tied to the third film, Colin Trevorrow,1 she brought back Abrams – yes, somehow, Abrams returned! And he proceeded to retcon everything Johnson had done! This was two filmmakers fighting before our very eyes with their films. It was annoying!
That third film, The Rise of Skywalker, was a mess from the title on down. Though it did give us the worst line of dialogue in the history of modern cinema with the meme I keep alluding to. So kudos to Kennedy for that. She somehow put the pieces in place to out-dumb even George Lucas dialogue. The apprentice becomes the master.
I realize I kicked this off by noting that Kennedy's tenure atop Lucasfilm wasn't all that bad and then 90% of what I wrote was about how it was bad. And well, it was bad overall. But there were a few saving graces:
- The Mandalorian – It was actually a big risk when it came out as the first Star Wars streaming show. But it was very good. And Kennedy clearly made the right call in getting Jon Favreau to make it.2 Yes, it started to flail a bit as it went on, but that seemed just as related to over-saturation, which we can blame on the pandemic, as Bob Iger has.
- Rogue One – This should have been a total disaster and seemingly nearly was when Kennedy had to fire director Gareth Edwards during production and replaced him with Tony Gilroy. But again, that seemed to be the right call! Somehow, the movie isn't just good, it's very good. It's one of the best Star Wars movies, period.
- Andor – And Rogue One directly led to Andor, its prequel show, also the work of Gilroy. Also very good. More on this in a minute...
I won't bring up Solo, which was just a completely unnecessary mistake. Nor Obi-Wan, which largely wasted the talents of those involved with the weird little Leia subplot. And Ahsoka was... meh.
I will bring up The Acolyte, which produced one of the worst episodes of anything I can recall seeing. And this was especially annoying because the show was set up to give us Darth Plagueis – finally! – but it was so bad that it couldn't survive to fulfill that promise. Again, there are so many things about Kennedy's stewardship that were just annoying and frustrating. As Belloni puts it:
O.G. Puck readers know I’ve been critical of Kennedy’s record at Lucasfilm. She gets credit for reinventing Star Wars for streaming with The Mandalorian, but the hit rate on Disney+ series has been low, especially considering the cost of those shows. And she effectively tossed the Star Wars film franchise into a Death Star trash compactor with three high-grossing yet increasingly desperate and disjointed Skywalker movies, plus two spinoffs, and a parade of high-profile development that led to scrapped projects and disgruntled creatives. Ask a top creator about their experience working with Lucasfilm and you’ll likely get an earful: unclear direction, paralyzed decision-making, extreme aversion to creative risks yet also slavish devotion to a fan base that has become increasingly toxic. Not great.
No, not great. But now, a new hope. I'd be shocked if anyone other than Dave Filoni takes over the reins.3 But might Kevin Feige be a wildcard as it gives him an escape hatch from staying too long focused on one thing at Marvel? I mean, he's already now diving back into actors for their second turns in the MCU. And when he's not doing that, there are seemingly issues. Hard to imagine he leaves before seeing through the Dr. Doom storyline – especially given the money involved – but he was tied to his own Star Wars film at one point...
As I wrote in November:
Can we please, please just hand the franchise stewardship reigns over to Feige? Getting Robert Downey Jr. back to the MCU was a worthy last mission over there. Help us, Kevin Feige, you're our only hope.
Per that piece, also interesting to watch what becomes of the Simon Kinberg trilogy which he was creating and producing alongside... Kennedy. There was a lot of back-and-forth as to whether or not that would take place in the Skywalker universe. Any new Lucasfilm boss will obviously have an opinion about that. As they will about the new Daisy Ridley-led film which has seemingly been stuck on Dagobah. Or worse, Hoth.
Anyway, with the Kennedy retirement news, it's starting to feel like Star Wars is now due for a renaissance. The film franchise has now been gone long enough to actually be missed again. And it won't be seen, at least tangentially, until next year with Favreau's The Mandalorian and Grogu. Yes, Baby Yoda on the big screen. And you can't help but wonder if Kennedy's timing isn't related to the release of the second season of Andor, the property she got right. And the new season looks fantastic. And it will lead directly into the story of Rogue One, the movie she saved. And then she rides off into hyperspace.
1 To make matters worse, it seems like Trevorrow actually had the right idea for a third film.
2 Though all she really had to do was follow the Kevin Feige playbook here, since it was Favreau who also kicked off the MCU by directing Iron Man...
3 I mean maybe Favreau, but he seems more interested in actually making movies, not making the sausage to make the movies. Our little baby is all growns up!