Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy Says New Films Are Exploring “The Evolution Of The Jedi”
John F. Trent
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Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy provided some new details about the three newly announced Star Wars films claiming they will be exploring “the evolution of the Jedi.”
LONDON, ENGLAND – APRIL 07: Kathleen Kennedy onstage during the studio panel at Star Wars Celebration 2023 attends the studio panel at Star Wars Celebration 2023 in London at ExCel on April 07, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Kate Green/Getty Images for Disney)
At Star Wars Celebration 2023 in April, Lucasfilm announced three new live action Star Wars films from directors James Mangold, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, and Dave Filoni.
In a press release, Lucasfilm detailed that Mangold’s film “will take audiences deep into the past, telling the tale of the first Jedi to wield the Force and harness it as a liberating power in an era of chaos and oppression.”
Obaid-Chinoy’s film will take place after The Rise of Skywalker with the press release explaining it is “set 15 years after the last events of the Skywalker Saga. The film will star Daisy Ridley reprising her beloved role as Rey and tells the story of rebuilding the New Jedi Order and the powers that rise to tear it down.”
Finally, Filoni’s film “will orchestrate the escalating war between the Imperial Remnant and the fledgling New Republic. Alongside producer Jon Favreau, they will bring together many of the threads of the Star Wars original series in a cinematic event.”
LONDON, ENGLAND – APRIL 07: (L-R) Daisy Ridley, Kathleen Kennedy and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy attend the studio panel at Star Wars Celebration 2023 attends the studio panel at Star Wars Celebration 2023 in London at ExCel on April 07, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Jeff Spicer/Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for Disney)
Speaking with Empire at Star Wars Celebration, Kennedy provided more details on Obaid-Chinoy’s film while also explaining their overall vision for all three films.
She said, “What we’re exploring is the evolution of the Jedi. We’re going very far back, we’re looking at the present, and now we’re moving 15 years after The Rise Of Skywalker.”
Kennedy went on to provide more details about Obaid-Chinoy’s film, “The First Order has fallen, the Jedi are in chaos – there’s even a question of how many exist anymore – and Rey’s building the New Jedi Order, based on the text that she was given and that Luke imparted on her.”
Daisy Ridley as Rey in The Rise of Skywalker (2019), Lucasfilm
These comments follow those made by Kennedy to IGN during Star Wars Celebration. She said, “We’re 15 years out from Rise of Skywalker. So we’re kind of post-war, post-First Order and the Jedi are in disarray. And there’s a lot of discussion around who are the Jedi, what are they doing, what’s the state of the galaxy? And she’s attempting to rebuild the Jedi Order based on the books, based on what she promised Luke.”
“So that’s where we’re going,” Kennedy asserted.
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This appears to be more evidence that Disney’s Star Wars trilogy was not an actual continuation of George Lucas’ films, but was indeed a soft reboot.
YouTuber The Critical Drinker explains the five key elements of the soft reboot, “1. Find an old franchise. Ideally, a soft reboot should target a franchise that’s at least a couple of decades old and hasn’t seen any significant activity for quite some time. This increases the demand and excitement for new installments, and allows our collective memory of past events to fade.”
Interestingly, Kennedy told Empire she wants these upcoming films to be event films. When discussing when these new films might hit theaters, Kennedy said, “I’ve often brought up [James] Bond. That’s every three or four years and there wasn’t this pressure to feel like you had to have a movie every year. I feel that was very important to Star Wars. We have to eventise this.”
Nevertheless, the Drinker continues, “2. Loose continuity. It’s going to be marketed as a conventional sequel acknowledging the characters and events of previous movies, but leaving the continuity vague enough that the writers can safely ignore anything which contradicts their new film.”
“3. Nostalgia. It’s likely to include lots of callbacks, in jokes, and references to past events because nostalgia has become the new sex appeal. It sells tickets,” he adds.
Harrison Ford as Han Solo is killed by Adam Driver as Kylo Ren in The Force Awakens (2015), Lucasfilm
Next, he says, “4. Cameos. It’ll include at least one appearance from a legacy character, again for nostalgia purposes, and to give the film a sense of legitimacy that it may or may not deserve.”
Finally, he details, “5. Sequel bait. Ultimately, the point of a soft reboot is to pass the torch to a new generation of younger, cooler, and most importantly of all cheaper actors who can carry the franchise for the next decade. So the ending is likely to be as open as possible, paving the way for possible sequels, spin-offs, and TV shows. Basically, the goal here is to launch the next MCU.”
He would later describe it as “a remake in sequel’s clothing if you will.”
Daisy Ridley as Rey in The Force Awakens (2015), Lucasfilm
What do you make of Kennedy’s comments about the upcoming Star Wars films?
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