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Message
Deadline: Exit Interview with Kathleen Kennedy
Posted on 1/16/26 at 7:28 am
Posted on 1/16/26 at 7:28 am
quote:
Given the high expectations of a rabid fan base, every development project and creative attachment has gotten high levels of scrutiny, ratcheting up the stress level. But the accomplishments are undeniable. Following a Disney mandate to broaden into television and build Disney+, Lucasfilm series including The Mandalorian, Andor and others have garnered more than 90 Emmy nominations so far. The expansion also included five animated series, the Disneyland and Disney World attractions Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, and the evolution of Lucasfilm Games. Kennedy has been discussing this succession plan for two years with Disney’s Bob Iger and Alan Bergman, and now the succession will finally happen the early part of 2026.
quote:
KENNEDY: That is not happening here. I told everybody I would stick around a bit longer than I had intended, but I am so ready to go off and have the chance to make lots of movies. I want to do more movies, and I want the opportunity to get back to a kind of eclectic group of movies the way I used to. I’m looking forward to working with Frank again on some stuff. He has been doing lots of documentaries and having a ball. I’m also really interested in the new technology, I have to say.
quote:
DEADLINE: The lows?
KENNEDY: The lows are that you’ve got a very, very small percentage of the fan base that has enormous expectations and basically they want to continue to see pretty much the same thing. And if you’re not going to do that, then you know going in that you’re going to disappoint them. I’m not sure there’s anything you can do about that, because you can’t please everybody. All you can do is try to tell good stories and try to stick to the essence of what George created. He embedded incredible values into Star Wars and what it has to say. The whole idea of hope and fun and entertainment in what he’s done over all these years, that’s what I tried to preserve. And I wouldn’t do that any differently and I wouldn’t change anything that we’ve done over the years. I understand why some people may like certain things more than others, but that’s not going to change why I decided to do certain things and why I decided to work with the people that we worked with.
quote:
DEADLINE: Let’s get to what the fans are eager to know. The progress on films and series by filmmakers who’ve committed to putting in that three to five years. Rian Johnson, James Mangold, Simon Kimberg, Taika Waititi. Where are all their projects at?
KENNEDY: I’ve got to tread a bit carefully here. Jim Mangold and Beau Willimon wrote an incredible script, but it is definitely breaking the mold and it’s on hold. Taika has turned in a script that I think is hilarious and great. It’s not just my decision, especially when I’ve got a foot out the door. Donald Glover has turned in a script. And as you have read, Steve Soderbergh and Adam Driver turned in a script written by Scott Burns. It was just great. Anything’s a possibility if somebody’s willing to take a risk.
quote:
DEADLINE: What about Rian Johnson returning? After Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi grossed $1.3 billion globally, we expected him to return.
KENNEDY: Once he made the Netflix deal and went off to start doing the Knives Out films, that has occupied a huge amount of his time. That’s the other thing that happens here. After Shawn and I started talking about Star Wars, Stranger Things kicks in and he was completely consumed for a while by that. That’s what happened with Rian. And then I do believe he got spooked by the online negativity. I think Rian made one of the best Star Wars movies. He’s a brilliant filmmaker and he got spooked. This is the rough part. When people come into this space, I have every filmmaker and actors say to me, “What’s going to happen?” They’re a little scared.
quote:
KENNEDY: Oh, trust me, Mike, this is a big part of what I’ve tried to do. Sit with the people that I would love to see step into this space and create something that we’ve never seen before. But Star Wars isn’t really Ryan’s thing. The trickiest thing is to find a filmmaker and say, “You can step into this space and you can still be you.”
Tony Gilroy, I knew him well from The Bourne Identity movies. He didn’t see himself in the Star Wars universe. I said, “Okay, let’s just talk this through.” And he came in on Rogue One and helped us and then he slowly started to get hooked. By the time we were talking about Andor, he found a way in because he realized there was something important he had to say and he could do it inside Star Wars, and that started to become very exciting for him. It’s thrilling to try and find that. I’ve had early conversations with David Fincher. With Vince Gilligan for TV. I have sat down with Alex Garland, and others where the minute you say their name, you go, “Oh, that might be an interesting Star Wars.”
But not everybody is going to just go, “Oh yeah, great.
read more
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Posted on 1/16/26 at 7:32 am to RLDSC FAN
quote:
I think Rian made one of the best Star Wars movies.
Holy shite.
It’s like she completely blocked out the scramble to salvage something to make a third film with.
But hey, he gave the purple haired lady that scene, right?
Posted on 1/16/26 at 7:39 am to RLDSC FAN
Andor is currently annoying the crap out of me. It has some good moments, but now the Empire is trying to trick the Ghorman people into rioting so they have an excuse to quell the riot, kill a bunch of people, and then exploit the planet's resources (although that sounds ripped from today's headlines)? The same empire that destroyed an entire planet (Alderaan) just to test the capabilities of its new Death Star?
Posted on 1/16/26 at 7:51 am to rebelrouser
Tbf it was an explicit plot point brought up in the original Star Wars about not needing to worry anymore about public image, they can do whatever they want.
Posted on 1/16/26 at 7:52 am to Volvagia
quote:
It’s like she completely blocked out the scramble to salvage something to make a third film with.
That's the whole thing about his film. In isolation, outside of a franchise and, especially, a trilogy, it wasn't that bad. The hammy casino bullshite, the Mary Sue, and a few other cringe things hurts, but overall the positives would outweigh the negatives in a vacuum.
However, the movie WAS in a franchise and WAS the middle movie in a trilogy. It amplified all the bad parts of TFA and basically ended the franchise in the 2nd act of a trilogy. This has been spun into some form of subverting expectations, but it's not even that. He wanted to make his own thing and didn't give a shite about the context, which is kind of a big deal (and foreshadowing of the conflict moving onward between people wanting to be creative who rejected the confines of the IP they chose to be creative in)
Posted on 1/16/26 at 7:54 am to SlowFlowPro
quote:
That's the whole thing about his film. In isolation, outside of a franchise and, especially, a trilogy, it wasn't that bad. The hammy casino bullshite, the Mary Sue, and a few other cringe things hurts, but overall the positives would outweigh the negatives in a vacuum.
Yep, agreed. Good post
Posted on 1/16/26 at 7:55 am to Volvagia
Yep, once the Death Star is ready, they dissolve the senate and feel that they can do whatever they want.
Fear of the Death Star will keep everyone in line.
Fear of the Death Star will keep everyone in line.
Posted on 1/16/26 at 8:06 am to Jor Jor The Dinosaur
quote:
Yep, once the Death Star is ready, they dissolve the senate and feel that they can do whatever they want.
Fear of the Death Star will keep everyone in line.
While that makes some sense, the Empire at this point has already murdered all the Jedi and wiped out the Wookie planet so it seems like they are being too cautious.
Posted on 1/16/26 at 8:22 am to RLDSC FAN
quote:
Given the high expectations of a rabid fan base…
Not only did Kathleen Kennedy not care about the OG fan base, she openly mocked them and said they weren’t needed. Then following that up with the “the force is female“ slogan and T-shirt she was pictured in, only worked to alienate all fans even more.
But putting out cringeworthy show and movies will be her biggest undoing.
Posted on 1/16/26 at 8:24 am to rebelrouser
Wookiees are nothing but savage apes in the eyes of an imperial, Ghorman is bourgeois planet that is a central figure in the high fashion industry.
It’s like the difference between attacking a third world backwater vs attacking Monaco.
It’s like the difference between attacking a third world backwater vs attacking Monaco.
Posted on 1/16/26 at 8:28 am to rebelrouser
quote:
While that makes some sense, the Empire at this point has already murdered all the Jedi and wiped out the Wookie planet so it seems like they are being too cautious.
They are being cautious until the Death Star is finished to keep the empire “united” against a common foe. Once the Death Star is complete, they don’t need that illusion anymore. Fear and power is enough.
Posted on 1/16/26 at 8:29 am to rebelrouser
quote:
Andor is currently annoying the crap out of me. It has some good moments, but now the Empire is trying to trick the Ghorman people into rioting so they have an excuse to quell the riot, kill a bunch of people, and then exploit the planet's resources (although that sounds ripped from today's headlines)? The same empire that destroyed an entire planet (Alderaan) just to test the capabilities of its new Death Star?
I mean that’s very PT Sidious behavior. They created the whole Clone Wars as an excuse for the formation of the Empire. Until Tarkin finished the Death Star this was typical Imperial behavior. Then he dissolved the senate and dared anyone to dissent.
Rian Johnson is a perfectly capable filmmaker. The Knives Out movies are great. I don’t know what truly happened with TLJ. I know there was an outline that he didnt follow, I know Hamill was very upset with what he did to Luke until he got “aligned”. I don’t know if that was Kennedy meddling, or just bad choices, or both. But her continued insistence that it’s a “small percentage of the fanbase” is absolutely ridiculous. Also telling that all of the successes she speaks about were basically helmed by the guy that’s replacing her.
Posted on 1/16/26 at 8:29 am to RLDSC FAN
quote:
The lows are that you’ve got a very, very small percentage of the fan base that has enormous expectations and basically they want to continue to see pretty much the same thing.
She is in a bubble if she thinks its small. Continuing to see the same thing is called expectations. If you're winning championships you don't want to go to the gutter. These people are so out of touch.
Posted on 1/16/26 at 8:41 am to RLDSC FAN
quote:
a very, very small percentage of the fan base that has enormous expectations and basically they want to continue to see pretty much the same thing.
This statement alone proves she should have been fired years ago.
This post was edited on 1/16/26 at 8:42 am
Posted on 1/16/26 at 8:41 am to RLDSC FAN
quote:
But the accomplishments are undeniable
In a decade, she managed to lose an entire generation of Star Wars fans. You took one of the most die-hard rabid fanbases and turned them completely apathetic toward your projects.
I'd argue Kennedy's reign at Lucas is one of the biggest frick ups in Hollywood history.
Posted on 1/16/26 at 9:20 am to RLDSC FAN
quote:
All you can do is try to tell good stories and try to stick to the essence of what George created.
So why didn't they do that?
Posted on 1/16/26 at 9:57 am to rebelrouser
quote:
Andor is currently annoying the crap out of me. It has some good moments, but now the Empire is trying to trick the Ghorman people into rioting so they have an excuse to quell the riot, kill a bunch of people, and then exploit the planet's resources (although that sounds ripped from today's headlines)? The same empire that destroyed an entire planet (Alderaan) just to test the capabilities of its new Death Star?
Andor takes place before ANH so yeah the Empire was still at least keeping a pretense of being “good” for the Galaxy at that point. Once the Death Star came online, the Emperor said frick it all and gave his general carte blanche to do whatever the hell they wanted to.
Posted on 1/16/26 at 10:19 am to RLDSC FAN
quote:
The lows are that you’ve got a very, very small percentage of the fan base that has enormous expectations and basically they want to continue to see pretty much the same thing
She can kindly go frick herself. It’s not enormous expectations, but there are expectations… You can’t just shite in our mouths and call it chocolate cake and expect praise…
Posted on 1/16/26 at 10:20 am to TheePalmetto
quote:
KENNEDY: The lows are that you’ve got a very, very small percentage of the fan base that has enormous expectations and basically, they want to continue to see pretty much the same thing. And if you’re not going to do that, then you know going in that you’re going to disappoint them
and here's your problem
1. Lodging your head up your arse and believing its only a very small minority that thinks your product sucked when all other metrics tell you people in general thought it was crap
2. Oversimplifying it all by saying "rrrr they just want the same shite" Well yes and no, they want you to be faithful to the source material but mostly just want a fun, entertaining product. You failed there.
This post was edited on 1/16/26 at 10:21 am
Posted on 1/16/26 at 11:02 am to RLDSC FAN
quote:
DEADLINE: The lows?
KENNEDY: The lows are that you’ve got a very, very small percentage of the fan base that has enormous expectations and basically they want to continue to see pretty much the same thing. And if you’re not going to do that, then you know going in that you’re going to disappoint them. I’m not sure there’s anything you can do about that, because you can’t please everybody. All you can do is try to tell good stories and try to stick to the essence of what George created. He embedded incredible values into Star Wars and what it has to say. The whole idea of hope and fun and entertainment in what he’s done over all these years, that’s what I tried to preserve. And I wouldn’t do that any differently and I wouldn’t change anything that we’ve done over the years. I understand why some people may like certain things more than others, but that’s not going to change why I decided to do certain things and why I decided to work with the people that we worked with.
This is the entire crux of the problem.
If by “continue to see pretty much the same thing” she means “fun, entertaining movies,” then I agree with her. But that’s not what she means. She seems to think people want the literal same story over and over. And she’s wrong, of course. Despite TFA being a bit of a rehash of the OG SW, there was enough new and different shite in it to build upon. But then she took a giant shite on everything and bright in a different director with a completely different vision. Even though I don’t hate TLJ as much as most, it was a big step down on quality and entertainment.
And she also seems to think it’s just a “very small percentage of the fan base,” which of course is also stupid.
But this part:
quote:
I understand why some people may like certain things more than others, but that’s not going to change why I decided to do certain things and why I decided to work with the people that we worked with.
…is the icing on the cake. “I understand you may not like it but I’m going to do what I want to do anyway and you can’t change anything about that.” Which is why Disney’s SW properties took a steep dive off a cliff. Ignoring what people actually want and choosing over and over to push your agenda-based bullshite is a recipe for disaster. So that being said, Disney deserves all of the bullshite and monetary losses they have gotten and I don’t pity them in the least.
God forbid people just want quality, entertaining SW movies/shows. The horror…
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