While the news of Star Wars: Rogue Squadron’s indefinite delay due to disagreements between director Patty Jenkins and the micromanagement of “certain executives” have led some to speculate on Kathleen Kennedy’s future as Lucasfilm President, it looks like she is not about to take a step back from overseeing the Star Wars Universe after reportedly renewing her contract through to 2024. While Kennedy was selected for the job by George Lucas himself, and with five Star Wars movies released during her tenure, with a host of TV series to come and of course Indiana Jones 5, it may seem that all is rosy in the world of Lucasfilm, but her position in the company has been hugely divisive among fans and that doesn’t seem to be changing anytime soon.
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While there is no doubt that the Star Wars sequels proved to be winners at the box office, audiences have never been more split than over how the final films in the Skywalker Saga played out, which many blamed on creative decisions being forced on the movies from a top level. However, the problems have been running much deeper than that, with Lucasfilm gaining a reputation for having so many issues behind the scenes that it has been impossible for many big name filmmakers to stick around long enough to make a full movie with the company. With the likes of Phil Lord and Chris Miller being fired from Solo: A Star Wars Story, Colin Trevorrow, Josh Tank and now seemingly Patty Jenkins being just a few who have walked away from big movies due to “creative differences”, there have been plenty of reasons for some think it was time for Kennedy to move on.
Former Hollywood Reporter editor Matthew Belloni revealed the contract renewal in his latest Puck newsletter, mentioning, “Kennedy has a lot of good things happening at Lucasfilm, and I’m told she recently re-upped her deal for another three years.”
Although on the film front, the direction of Lucasfilm is questionable to many, there is no way to deny that the arrival of numerous TV shows on Disney+ in the last two years have saved the Star Wars franchise from becoming a complete let-down for those fans who still cannot bring themselves to enjoy the final movies of the main franchise. The Mandalorian has been a runaway success, with The Book of Boba Fett coming to do big business this Christmas and soon to be followed by Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor and Ahsoka on the live-action series front along with many animated spin-off series, there is definitely a lot of good to come from the franchise and it is probably this that has led to Kennedy extending her contract once again.
If Lucasfilm can manage to navigate their way through the current turmoil around creative differences, which do happen across the entire industry but seem to be happening with a prevalent regularity at Lucasfilm, then perhaps by the time the next new Star Wars movie does manage to hold onto its whole team long enough to make it to screen, changes will have been made for the better. This news comes from Puck.
