Despite rumors to the contrary, Disney CEO Bob Chapek has revealed that current Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy, will not be going anywhere anytime soon. The topic was addressed during the company's shareholder meeting and the idea of her being replaced was shot down in a hurry by Chapek.
During the Q&A portion of the shareholder meeting, the question was asked pretty directly whether or not Dave Filoni, who is behind The Clone Wars and Rebels, or Jon Favreau, who, along with Filoni, is the driving force behind The Mandalorian, were going to replace Kennedy at Lucasfilm. While not mincing words, here is what Chapek had to say:
"We've been absolutely thrilled that we can have the kind of talent like Kathleen Kennedy to direct Lucasfilm… We look forward to having Kathleen Kennedy running the Lucasfilm organization for many years to come."
That pretty much settles that. It appears that the replacement rumors really began online with Star Wars fans wanting the likes of Filoni or Favreau to take over because they believe Lucasfilm may need a more fresh perspective at the helm. Kennedy is a legendary producer and she took over as head of Lucasfilm when Disney purchased the company from George Lucas in 2012. Kennedy has been in charge for nearly a decade, overseeing the Star Wars sequel trilogy and spinoffs like Rogue One and Solo. Under her watch, the films have grossed $6 billion worldwide and once you throw in the merchandise and publishing sales, it has been a very lucrative run.
That doesn't mean that the ship has been steered on calm waters during her run. Several directors have left Star Wars projects, allegedly after having creative disputes with Kennedy. Phil Lord and Chris Miller were let go from Solo and replaced by Ron Howard over "creative differences" and Colin Trevorrow ultimately exited Episode IX for similar reasons. Solo went on to disappoint financially and even though The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker were wildly successful financially, they are quite divisive with fans and the latter scored pretty mixed reviews from critics. When fans have been unhappy with the creative direction of Star Wars, Kennedy gets a bulk of the blame which is where a lot of these replacement rumors have come from. From a numbers perspective, Kennedy has more wins than misses so I guess Disney sees that as a good reason to keep her around.
Do YOU think Kathleen Kennedy should be replaced as President of Lucasfilm? Who would YOU like to see run the ship?