Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy will not be parting with the company as many fans hoped. A new report indicates Kennedy renewed her contract with Disney to remain Lucasfilm president for the next three years.
Kennedy’s renewed contract comes in the wake of controversy for the Star Wars franchise. Star Wars: The Last Jedi severely divided the fanbase and when fans vocalized their criticisms, a number of Lucasfilm employees including Rian Johnson, Chuck Wendig, and J.J. Abrams decided the fans were white supremacists, man babies, and threatened by women.
This behavior from the creators and the absolute debacle of Star Wars: The Last Jedi led to the biggest bomb in the history of the Star Wars franchise with Solo: A Star Wars Story.
But Disney CEO Bob Iger didn’t place the blame of those debacles on The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson nor his boss Kathleen Kennedy. He blamed it on the frequency of films. It’s a total bogus cop out as Disney releases yearly films in their other franchises including Marvel Studios and Pixar, not to mention their live-action films. In fact, Disney will be dropping two live-action films this winter in Mary Poppins Returns and The Nutcracker and the Four Realms.
With Iger and Disney deciding to renew Kennedy’s contract, it’s a signal of trust and faith that she can try and rehabilitate the franchise she threw into the toilet. And it appears the future of Star Wars won’t be in motion pictures anymore. It will be in television. In fact, a source tells The Hollywood Reporter that the J.J. Abrams directed “Episode IX will be the last of the “chapter” installments, with Disney planning on touting it as a selling point in the promotion campaign for the film in the year leading up to its release.”
However, Iger confirmed that Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss will be creating their own Star Wars films. There was also an announced trilogy for Rian Johnson, but his name was completely missing when Iger discussed the future of the Star Wars franchise.
With television being the future, Disney tapped the man who sparked their Marvel Cinematic Universe in actor and director Jon Favreau. Favreau is expected to create a show for Disney’s upcoming streaming service. Along with the live-action from Favreau, Disney will also be rebooting Star Wars: The Clone Wars by Dave Filoni, who plans to provide a real conclusion to his beloved animated series. Disney will also be dropping Star Wars Resistance on the Disney Channel following the conclusion of Star Wars Rebels.
Currently Episode IX is filming in London and Favreau’s live-action series is in the casting phase. Star Wars Resistance will debut next month on October 7, 2018.
Lucasfilm isn’t all about Star Wars. It also houses the Indiana Jones franchise which is currently in the process of making its fifth movie with Harrison Ford. However, it was recently delayed an entire year due to problems with the script.
What do you think about Disney’s decision to keep Kathleen Kennedy as the president of Lucasfilm? Will she be able to win back fans? Will Disney’s alleged strategy of focusing on TV work?