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The Sith’s Rule of Two states that there must always be a master and an apprentice. One embodies the power while the other craves it. Turns out studio executives operate in a manner not too different from the Sith, as the current head of Lucasfilm is about to step down and be replaced by the most obvious possible choice. An heir apparent rises to rule the galaxy’s worth of IP.
According to insider newsletter Puck News, Kathleen Kennedy will step down from her position atop Lucasfilm and will be replaced by the team of Dave Filoni and Lynwen Brennan, the latter of whom will hold the role of co-president and oversee the business side of Lucasfilm. A longtime Star Wars creative, Filoni is best known for The Clone Wars animated series that ran between 2013 and 2020, as well as his more recent work on The Mandalorian, Ahsoka, and Star Wars: The Bad Batch. Filoni is also co-writing the upcoming movie The Mandalorian and Grogu, along with the film’s director Jon Favreau.
Although the change in leadership has not yet been confirmed by Disney, replacing Kennedy with Filoni is not a surprise. Reports that Kennedy planned to retire at the end of 2025 have been circling since 2024, shortly after Filoni was promoted to chief creative officer at Lucasfilm. A successful producer who co-founded Amblin Entertainment with Steven Spielberg and Frank Marshall, Kennedy has been serving as president of Lucasfilm since Disney acquired the company from George Lucas in 2012.
Under Kennedy’s stewardship, Star Wars saw some high points, such as the financially and (initially) critically successful sequel trilogy and TV shows such as The Mandalorian and Andor. However, between a glut of mediocre streaming series, the mess that was The Rise of Skywalker, and a reevaluation of the prequel trilogy, fans have grown generally dissatisfied with Kennedy’s approach to the brand.
As the creator of a beloved show set within the prequel era, Filoni appears on paper to be the ideal choice for winning back those dissatisfied fans. Filoni has been building on his characters from The Clone Wars, not only giving Ahsoka her own live-action series on Disney+, but making Bo-Katan the lead of The Mandalorian.
In place of one person running Lucasfilm then, there will now be two people in Filoni and Brennan. So maybe that’s not like the Sith at all. But will it be good for Star Wars? We’ll have to wait and see if Filoni and Brennan can please both the hardcore fans who loved The Clone Wars and everyone else who might be interested in other stories set in a galaxy far, far away. When Kennedy came in, the apparent marching orders were about winning back fans of the original trilogy dissatisfied with the prequels. Interesting how the tables have turned…
The post Report: Star Wars Will Make the Obvious Choice to Replace Kathleen Kennedy appeared first on Den of Geek.
