Kathleen Kennedy felt 'relief' at Lucasfilm exit
Kathleen Kennedy felt "a bit of relief" after stepping down from Lucasfilm after 14 years in charge.
Kathleen Kennedy felt "a bit of relief" after stepping down from Lucasfilm.
The 73-year-old producer stood down as president of the Star Wars studio in January after 14 years and she admitted the role had been an "incredible challenge".
Asked if her exit felt "bittersweet" during Bloomberg's annual Screentime event in Los Angeles on Wednesday (30.09.26), she said: “I suppose there’s a bit of relief. These jobs are not easy and stepping into something like that that George [Lucas] had created was an incredible challenge."
Kathleen has spent the months following her exit trying to figure out what is happening in Hollywood, particularly with the rise of AI, and trying to "get reacquainted" with people she'd had little time to connect with while at Lucasfilm.
She said: “I think it’s just absolutely extraordinary what is going on right now. So rather than form any real opinion or judgement about it, I’m just trying to absorb and meet as many people who are involved in the new technology.
“I’m also trying to get reacquainted with people that I’d lost track of. Because you get in a bit of a bubble when you’re doing something like Star Wars.”
The producer admitted the "toughest thing" about being in charge at Lucasfilm was finding the right "balance" with projects that kept the fanbase happy while also appealing to a broader audience.
She said: “Well, I think that that’s the challenge that all franchises [face], certainly something that’s been around now for 50 years. You’ve got people where this means a lot to them.
“But at the same time, the challenge is to try to create something new, something original. So finding that balance is really the toughest thing.”
She cited her proudest accomplishments as rebooting the film franchise with Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and overseeing Disney+ series Andor and The Mandalorian, but didn't offer any specific regrets.
She said: “I mean, I don’t think you can do anything in terms of the movie business where every single thing is going to be a perfect hit.
“I think you learn things, I always like learning things from the movies that we do, the postmortems we do on what worked, what didn‘t. But I’m always proud of the work that’s been done.”
Dave Filoni and Lynwen Brennan have taken charge of Lucasfilm, while Kathleen is returning to independent producing with her husband Frank Marshall.
The producer admitted she is "worried" about the impact of the merger between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery.
She said: “I think we’re all worried about that. To have a studio disappear and fewer movies get made, fewer content gets made.
“The ability for the studios to be able to scale the work that many of us do. I think that’s the biggest worry. We’ll see.
“If it really is 30 movies a year, we’ll see.”
