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After fourteen years, Kathleen Kennedy is stepping down as the president of Lucasfilm. She will be replaced by Dave Filoni, its chief creative officer, and by Lynwen Brennan, the head of business affairs and operations for the studio. Filoni, 51, will serve as president and Brennan,58, will be the co-president.
Early in her career, the 72-year-old Kennedy produced E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Poltergeist, both in 1982. She has since produced several films in the Star Wars franchise, including two upcoming movies, The Mandolorian and Grogu and Star Wars: Starfighter.
Filoni has been a creative dynamo for Lucasfilm for 21 years, having been involved with such successes as Ahsoka, The Clone Wars, The Mandalorian, and Star Wars Rebels. He was a protegee of George Lucas, who developed the original Star Wars film in 1977. The Welsh-born Brennan has been with Lucasfilm for 27 years, having started her career with Industrial Light & Magic, a visual effects affiliate. Most recently, she managed Lucasfilm’s divisions overseeing games, publishing, and consumer products.
Soon after her hiring, Kennedy oversaw the development of a number of highly successful films, such as Andor, The Mandalorian, and Rogue One–that earned the studio more than $5 billion in ticket sales worldwide. But her tenure was also marked by controversy. She earned the displeasure of some diehard fans for her efforts at diversifying the Star Wars brand by making the films more appealing to women and minorities. As a result, she was often parodied on South Park, which claimed her formula was “Put a chick in it! Make her lame and gay!”
On Thursday, Disney’s CEO Bob Iger lauded Kennedy’s track record in these words: “When we acquired Lucasfilm more than a decade ago, we knew we were bringing into the Disney family not only one of the most beloved and enduring storytelling universes ever created, but also a team of extraordinary talent led by a visionary filmmaker — someone who had been handpicked by George Lucas himself, no less.”