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Kathleen Kennedy isn’t retiring… from filmmaking. She is, however, looking for potential successors to take over for her at Lucasfilm. That news, and much more, just broke out of an exclusive new interview with the Lucasfilm president.
Earlier this week, news leaked that Kennedy might be retiring from Lucasfilm by the end of 2025. Speaking to Deadline, the prolific producer wouldn’t put a timeline on it but did confirm they are looking at what’s next. “I am not retiring,” Kennedy said. “I will never retire from movies. I will die making movies. That is the first thing that’s important to say. I am not retiring. What’s happening at Lucasfilm is I have been talking for quite some time with both [Disney’s] Bob [Iger] and Alan [Bergman] about what eventual succession might look like.”
“We’ve been talking about [succession], as I said, nonstop for the last couple of years because for obvious reasons, I’m not going to be here forever,” she continued. “George [Lucas] asked me 13 years ago to step in, and now I’m looking at who’s going to replace me. And as I said, we have a bench of people internally to handle the business, the creative side. The job has grown also since I stepped in. There was no streaming, there weren’t a lot of the things that we’re involved in right now going on. So it has grown.”
Kennedy refused to name any of the names of people who she’s looking at but did name names in terms of the future of Star Wars.
Of course, we know that The Mandalorian and Grogu is the next film coming, in 2026. Kennedy confirmed that Shawn Levy’s movie (potentially starring Ryan Gosling. though she didn’t mention the star) will follow that. It’s a standalone movie set about five or six years after the events of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. She’s producing both.
Kennedy also said that Simon Kinberg has just begun writing films in his trilogy, which she describes as “the next iteration, the new saga that moves us into the future.”
She didn’t mention the movie that would feature the return of Daisy Ridley, but did say that James Mangold’s film is still in the script stage as is Taika Waititi’s. “I keep waiting for Taika and he is working with another writer now,” Kennedy said. “He’s so busy. I love him, I think if we ever do get a script from Taika, it’s going to be fantastic. I already saw a first act that I loved, but tying him down it’s tricky.”
So there you have it. The reports earlier this week were… not quite 100% accurate but close. And it sounds like we may be hearing more about Shawn Levy’s film at Star Wars Celebration.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
