The future of Star Wars films looks uncertain after the departure of Kathleen Kennedy

Jan 21, 2026

Before leaving Lucasfilm, Kathleen Kennedy spoke about future projects in the Star Wars universe and shared thoughts about the studio's past mistakes in her final interview with Deadline.

Gathered the main thing:

  • Shawn Levy dreamed of making a film based on Star Wars ten years ago, and in 2022 the studio gave him the opportunity. Speaking about the Star Fighter project, she emphasized that this is a one-off story that should not turn into a series. According to Kennedy, the title role was played by a very talented young actor.
  • Tony Gilroy didn't immediately warm to the idea of working on Star Wars. However, by the beginning of the filming of Andor, he had already definitely found what was important that he wanted to say through this universe.
  • Among the announced projects, Kennedy mentioned James Mangold's film about the emergence of the first Jedi. Although the project has been put on hold, it has an "amazing script." Donald Glover recently sent in a script for a Lando movie, and Taika Waititi submitted his version, which Kennedy called "hilarious and wonderful." Waititi and Glover's projects are in a more active stage of development compared to others, but the new management of the studio will decide their fate.
  • A new trilogy from Simon Kinberg is in active production. Events will unfold after the ninth episode, and the new management of Lucasfilm is enthusiastic about this project.
  • The Hunt for Ben Solo has been postponed for now.
  • Kennedy stated that further collaboration with Ryan Jones is not working out, as the talented director was frightened by the negativity on the Internet about the eighth episode of the main saga.

In an interview, Kennedy admitted that she has some regrets about the situation with Solo: A Star Wars Story. She loved the idea of ​​the film, but the team underestimated the fact that it would be nearly impossible to replace Harrison Ford in the eyes of fans. According to the producer, Alden Ehrenreich found himself in an "impossible" situation, and the studio itself took up the idea of ​​a prequel too early.

Kennedy also mentioned that she discussed the possibility of creating Star Wars projects with David Fincher, Alex Garland and Vince Gilligan.However, these meetings, apparently, did not lead to concrete results.

Kennedy drew attention to the scale of work on the franchise films. According to her, creating a Star Wars film takes three to five years of a director’s life, and few people understand how difficult and time-consuming it is. People put all other projects on hold for this work.

The film about Rey with Daisy Ridley was not mentioned even once.