Running Star Wars sounds like a dream job. Then you remember that every decision comes with decades of expectations, a massive business riding on it, and an audience that can turn a lightsaber discussion into a courtroom battle.
Kathleen Kennedy knows that job better than most.
Speaking at Bloomberg’s Screentime event, the former Lucasfilm president offered a candid answer about stepping away from the studio after 14 years.
“I suppose there’s a bit of relief,” Kennedy said, describing the difficulty of following George Lucas and taking responsibility for what he created.
It is an understandable admission. Loving Star Wars and being responsible for its future are two very different experiences.
The Job Came With a Galaxy of Expectations
Kennedy took over Lucasfilm in 2012, the year Disney acquired the company. Her tenure included the sequel trilogy, standalone films such as Rogue One and Solo, and the franchise’s expansion into television.
That meant making decisions about characters some viewers had loved since childhood, while giving new audiences a reason to care.
For our money, that tension is the most interesting part of her comments. How far can Star Wars move forward before someone argues it has lost its identity? How much can it revisit before someone else asks why the franchise keeps circling the same planets?
Those questions deserve serious answers. Fans should expect strong storytelling, and the Lucasfilm name should never give a project a free pass.
But there is also something exhausting about a franchise conversation in which every release becomes another vote on whether the entire thing should exist.
The Three Projects She Stands Behind
Kennedy also identified three projects she is particularly proud of: The Force Awakens, Andor, and The Mandalorian, according to TheWrap’s coverage of the interview.
She credited The Force Awakens with relaunching the franchise, singled out Andor as a television achievement, and highlighted the family viewing experience offered by The Mandalorian.
It is an interesting trio because each offers a different argument for what Star Wars can be.
The Force Awakens goes big on familiar imagery, returning heroes, and the excitement of meeting a new generation. The Mandalorian builds an adventure around a smaller central relationship. Andor digs into the machinery of oppression and the personal cost of resistance.
Our read? Those choices make a stronger case for variety than any claim that there is one perfect formula for Star Wars.
Give the franchise room to tell different kinds of stories. Then judge whether those stories deliver.
A Legacy That Will Keep Starting Arguments
Kennedy stepped down earlier this year, with Dave Filoni named Lucasfilm president and chief creative officer and Lynwen Brennan named co-president.
The leadership has changed. The expectations come with the office.
Kennedy’s tenure deserves scrutiny, and fans will keep debating the creative decisions made under her watch. That is fair game. So is acknowledging the work she is proud of without pretending every viewer has to agree.
Her admission of relief adds a human detail to a conversation that too often treats the person running the studio like a character in the saga.
Fourteen years is a long time to carry those expectations.
Now somebody else gets the keys to the galaxy. And everybody has an opinion about where they should fly.
Sources: GamesRadar+ and TheWrap.
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