Kathleen Kennedy 2023 Exit Chances and What the Near Future Holds for ‘Star Wars’
Ever since Bob Iger came back to take over as CEO of the Walt Disney Company on November 20, there has been a lot of speculation concerning the future of the Star Wars franchise, and in particular, that of Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy. Iger, a self-professed Star Wars fan who led the acquisition of Lucasfilm in October 2012, has usually backed up Kennedy’s decisions (except for those concerning the release of Solo), and during his first term, there used to be a sense of mutual understanding between parent and sub-company. Despite that, many have been speculating that Kennedy will be axed amid Iger’s restructuring of the company.
This topic came up during the most recent episode of The Hot Mic With Jeff and John (check it out in full down below), where Jeff Sneider weighed in to say that, even though he’s been asking everywhere, he hasn’t been able to find any hints of Kathleen Kennedy leaving any time soon. He said the following:
“[These rumors] has been around forever, and I know because I’ve been looking into them forever. No, I don’t think she’s going anywhere, I think she’ll definitely be there through the end of Iger’s run. So I guess she’s there for two years at least. [Iger] put her there, right? I think that yeah, Kathy is definitely safe for at least two years. I would imagine that she either leaves with Iger, provided that Iger leaves after two years, or maybe after getting the next movie off the ground.”
This represents a 180-shift from what John Campea said in his show a few days earlier. He revealed that two independent and trustworthy sources had told him Kennedy would be leaving around the time of the release of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. On November 22, he said:
“One of the questions that I’ve had pop up numerous times over the past 24 hours was ‘Now that Iger is back, do you think that means Kathy Kennedy is gone?’ And my response to that was ‘Well, if anything it’s the opposite. Bob Iger has traditionally been a Kathleen Kennedy ally, and with Bob Iger coming back, I have a feeling that will entrench her even more and she will probably stay through the end of her contract’.
Sometimes, I will say something on a show and then I’ll get contacted by people in the know that would say to me ‘Hey, you said this. It was a great show… But you’re wrong.’ I will tell you this. Last night I got an email from someone very connected, and then this morning I got a phone call from someone even more connected. Two separate people, completely independent from each other, that got a hold of me and said ‘Oh John, you said that Kathleen Kennedy is gonna be even more entrenched now that Iger is back. You’re wrong.’ This is what I have heard.
I have heard that the decision to remove Kathleen Kennedy has already been made, and that she’ll be gone either some time before or very, very shortly thereafter the release of Indiana Jones 5. Now, I want to be very, very clear here. I cannot confirm to you that this is a fact. I will say that one of the two people that contacted me has a 1,000-percent average on things they’ve informed me on. They are the ones who’ve informed me of a couple of things that I nailed, that I was right about. The other one usually has been correct, but not 100-percent.”
(Photo: Alex J. Berliner/ABImages)
An exit after the release of Indiana Jones 5 would make logical sense, as that will be Harrison Ford’s final adventure — Raiders of the Lost Ark was the first movie she was credited for (as an associate to director Steven Spielberg), and the franchise holds a very special place in her heart, even more so than Star Wars. She said as much to Vanity Fair earlier this year:
“Maybe I’m closer to the DNA of Indy, and always have been, than I was when I came into Star Wars […]”
It would also make sense for her to have laid the groundwork for the future of the Star Wars franchise upon her exit. And as Jeff Sneider also revealed recently, that is already in place. The public simply doesn’t know about it.
This is a topic that was also touched upon by Rocha and Sneider in the most recent show. They both are of the opinion that the next Star Wars movie to be out will be Damon Lindelof’s project, which recently tapped Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy to direct. At least reporting-wise, that is the movie that has received the most amount of buzz over the past couple of months. Besides the director, reports have also come out about a writers’ room assembled for this specific project — it at least includes Justin Britt-Gibson (who will be a co-writer on the movie), Patrick Somerville, Rayna McClendon, and Andy Greenwald, with rumblings of Dave Filoni chipping in as well.
Kathleen Kennedy revealed earlier this year that they would like to set the next era of Star Wars movies after the events of The Rise of Skywalker. The Hollywood Reporter also confirmed that Lindelof’s project will be set in that era, and mentioned the possibility of characters from the sequel trilogy appearing in the new movie(s). Coincidentally, this came out shortly before Daisy Ridley posted on social media about a recent lunch she’d had at the Lucasfilm headquarters. Ridley’s return would make the most sense out of the recent cast — aside from a small cameo in Netflix’s The Bubble and her leading role in Chaos Walking, which was done way in advance, she hasn’t appeared in any live-action film since The Rise of Skywalker‘s release, despite reports that she’d signed on for a couple of movies. One of them will be Rachel Lambert’s Sometimes I Think About Dying, which she stars in and produces — it will be part of next year’s Sundance Film Festival lineup (check out a first-look image here).
The 30-year-old actress was probably taking a break from the Hollywood machine after coming out of nowhere to headline three of the biggest movies of the decade. That’s not the route that her colleagues took — Oscar Isaac and Adam Driver are currently two of the busiest people in Hollywood, and John Boyega apparently doesn’t want anything to do with Star Wars for the time being. Going outside of the main four, though, bringing back Kelly Marie Tran’s Rose would also make sense. She’s stayed in the Disney family for the past couple of years with Raya and the Last Dragon, and was the only member of the recent cast to voice their character in the LEGO Star Wars animated specials, which tells us that at least she hasn’t blocked Lucasfilm’s phone number yet.
Bringing in a writers’ room also seems to point to Lucasfilm planning well ahead, and perhaps starting to think about the next five movies as opposed to just the next one. Taika Waititi confirmed over the summer that his film would not include any known characters, so he may have been hesitant to play around in an already-established time period with previously introduced players. Lucasfilm also needs to figure out where the main Star Wars story goes after the (for now) definitive conclusion of The Rise of Skywalker, which is where a writers’ room can be of help too. And it’s unlikely that they will do all of the work for just one entry.
This plan, though, seems to be already moving in the right direction. A general rule in Hollywood (though not always applicable) is that once the trades — and then the public — start to hear about developments, those have been going on for a long time. Lindelof’s relationship with Lucasfilm was first revealed at the beginning of the year, so meetings concerning his vision and the overall story going forward have been happening for many months. According to The Hollywood Reporter, said writers’ room was assembled over the summer, which means that by next June, which is when Indiana Jones 5 will come out, they could very well have an entire storyline planned out. Moreover, The Hollywood Reporter mentioned earlier this year that Taika Waititi’s Star Wars film was set to start shooting in early 2023 — it’s possible that they got the projects mixed and that the story was actually about Lindelof’s film. This is obviously not happening over the next couple of months, but pre-production could perhaps happen by the time Star Wars Celebration comes around, next April.
With a roadmap in place, and Indiana Jones 5 out in the world, June 30 seems to be an ideal time for Kennedy to exit. However, if John Campea’s sources are indeed correct, more people would have either heard about it by now, or will hear about it soon. The fact that Sneider hasn’t yet is cause for hesitation, for now.
The next Star Wars movie is scheduled to hit theaters on December 19, 2025. But if we’ve learned anything over the past few years, is that always in motion is the future.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as movies from Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
