Yahoo Lifestyle ‘Star Wars’ Boss Kathleen Kennedy Planning to Exit Lucasfilm at the End of 2025
Kathleen Kennedy, the longtime president of Lucasfilm, is expected to step down at the end of 2025.
She intends to retire after her current contract ends, according to a source with knowledge of her plans. A separate source close to Kennedy, however, dismissed the initial report by Puck as “pure speculation” and said nothing has been decided.
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Kennedy joined Lucasfilm in 2012 as co-chair alongside “Star Wars” creator George Lucas. Shortly after, Lucas exited his post as Disney acquired the company for $4 billion, and Kennedy was elevated to president.
She is credited with reviving the property by launching the sequel trilogy, beginning with 2015’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” as well as the critically acclaimed 2016 spinoff “Rogue One.” Kennedy has also charted a future for the franchise on streaming with television series such as “The Mandalorian” and “Andor.”
However, her future with the company behind “Star Wars” has been a source of speculation over the years. “The Force Awakens” remains the highest-grossing film in domestic box office history with $936 million (and $2 billion globally), but the triad of Skywalker-centric blockbusters experienced diminishing returns. “Rise of Skywalker” capped off the trilogy in 2019 with a still-impressive $1 billion, albeit half as much as “The Force Awakens” earned a few years earlier. That may not have been as big a deal, but it came a year after the financial failure of 2018’s “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” which became the first “Star Wars” movie to ever lose money in its theatrical run.
At Lucasfilm, Kennedy also oversaw 2023’s “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” the fifth and final film in the Harrison Ford-led series. The action adventure, which relaunched the property after 15 years, was a catastrophic failure. “Dial of Destiny” generated $383 million globally against a $295 million budget, ultimately losing around $140 million for the studio.
“Star Wars” has struggled to return to the big screen since “Rise of Skywalker” — though not for lack of trying on the studio side. In the years since, Lucasfilm has announced several “Star Wars” projects by such filmmakers as James Mangold, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Taika Waititi and Donald Glover, but none have come to fruition yet. Meanwhile, new takes on the space opera series from “Wonder Woman” director Patty Jenkins, Marvel producer Kevin Feige, “The Last Jedi” director Rian Johnson and “Game of Thrones” creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, were shelved for various reasons.
Lucasfilm has plans to (eventually) reintroduce itself to movie theaters. “The Mandalorian & Grogu,” a continuation of the Disney+ series about the helmet-wearing bounty hunter (played by Pedro Pascal), is set for theatrical release in 2026, while “X-Men” alum Simon Kinberg is reportedly developing a new “Star Wars” trilogy.
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