Lucasfilm is seeing a big leadership change as Dave Filion and Lynwen Brennan take over
Lucasfilm has announced that after 14 years at the helm, Kathleen Kennedy will be stepping down and will focus on producing. That means that Dave Filoni and Lynwen Brennan will take up the lead position, with Filoni now President and Chief Creative Officer and Brennan being the Co-President.
For Kennedy, she was a long time producer before she took up the reigns of Lucasfilm when Disney bought the company, in fact she was already working alongside George Lucas before the deal, so she could get up to speed. Before her time in a galaxy far, far away, she had produced titled like E.T. Jurassic Park and its sequels, Back to the Future and its sequels, The Sixth Sense and the animated movie An American Tail.
Of course, in 2012 when she took up the reigns of Lucasfilm as its President, she brought five movies to the big screen, with The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, The Rise of Skywalker, Rogue One and Solo. She is also a producer on the upcoming The Mandalorian and Grogu and Star Wars: Starfighter, which recently wrapped principal photography. On the smaller screen she also brought The Mandalorian to life, along with two seasons of Andor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, The Acolyte and Skeleton Crew. While the quality of each movie or show is up for debate, there is no kidding that for 14 years, that was a lot of content and of course does not touch on Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny or the tv series Willow.
“When George Lucas asked me to take over Lucasfilm upon his retirement, I couldn’t have imagined what lay ahead. It has been a true privilege to spend more than a decade working alongside the extraordinary talent at Lucasfilm. Their creativity and dedication have been an inspiration, and I’m deeply proud of what we’ve accomplished together. I’m excited to continue developing films and television with both longtime collaborators and fresh voices who represent the future of storytelling.”
Filoni on the other hand has been an old hat at Star Wars, no pun intended, since he was brought on board to create Clone Wars, the CGI version not the hand-drawn one. Filoni worked alongside Lucas to create the outline of the show, which would go on to define what Star Wars was for millions of fans, he was also the creator of Ahsoka Tano, a fan favourite character. He has been working alongside Jon Favreau on The Mandalorian series and its spin-offs and the upcoming movie The Mandalorian and Grogu. In 2023, he was promoted to the role of Chief Creative Officer at Lucasfilm and given creative oversight for all TV and film projects, there is no word on if he helps out on games and comics, but I suspect he does not mind being asked.
“My love of storytelling was shaped by the films of Kathleen Kennedy and George Lucas. I never dreamed I would be privileged to learn the craft of filmmaking from both of them. From Rey to Grogu, Kathy has overseen the greatest expansion in Star Wars storytelling onscreen that we have ever seen. I am incredibly grateful to Kathy, George, Bob Iger and Alan Bergman for their trust and the opportunity to lead Lucasfilm in this new role, doing a job I truly love. May the Force be with you.”
Brennan is the unknown for a lot of folks, more the business side of things. She came on board in 1999 at Industrial Light and Magic, or ILM and become its President in 2009. She then oversaw the expansion into Singapore, Vancouver, London and here in Sydney. In 2015 she was given the role of Executive Vice President of Lucasfilm and oversaw a lot of the company.
“Lucasfilm has played such a meaningful part in my life. It’s a community of inspiring storytellers with a rebel spirit like no other, and I am honored to join Dave Filoni in leading us forward. I have been so fortunate to learn from George Lucas, Kathy Kennedy and Alan Bergman and have unwavering faith in Dave’s creative vision for the next chapter in this storied studio’s legacy.”
Going forward, Kennedy will support Filoni and Brennan in their new roles, as she begins to step away. While some Star Wars fans have been absolute shits to Kennedy over the years, there is no denying that she has done a lot for Star Wars. I would personally love more Indiana Jones, but we can’t get everything. She is not going to stop producing movies and as she has only a few academy awards, I imagine she wants a few more.
With Filoni being the creative lead, that hopefully means we get more Star Wars that holds true to what Star Wars should be, but I imagine we might have to wait until Star Wars Celebration next year to learn more. In just a few months though, we will see some of his work when The Mandalorian and Grogu hits the big screen.
