Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy has to be one of the most scrutinized figures in Hollywood, and that’s thanks to her being the lead of a franchise with one of the most toxic online fandoms.
With the announcement that Kennedy is set to retire by the end of the year, fans online have been wondering just who her successor is going to be, and The Hollywood Reporter has come up with a list of possible nominations put together with some inside information.
So far, the THR list for the next Lucasfilm president includes:
- Jon Favreau
- Dave Filoni
- Kevin Feige
- J. Abrams
- Emma Watts
- Hannah Minghella
One other name that should have been on the list was longtime Lucasfilm executive Rayne Roberts who was said to have been groomed by Kennedy to take over for her, but she was recently announced as Searchlight’s new senior VP of production, so it’s not likely she’s going to jump ship anytime soon.
As for the rest of the list Abrams was said to have had a nightmare experience with The Rise of Skywalker, so it’s likely he won’t be coming back. Watts was a respected executive that delivered the X-Men and Avatar movies for Fox; and Minghella used to work for Abrams and has had a long stint with kid-friendly movies at Sony Pictures like Cloudy with a Chance of Meetballs, Goosebumps, and Hotel Transylvania.
Marvel head Kevin Feige is too busy restructuring Marvel after they made serious fumbles after Endgame; so the top choices are (unfortunately) Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau. It’s even suggested that they could be co-presidents—much like James Gunn and Peter Safran for DC Studios.
It’s worth noting that while Filoni and Favreau have been behind some of the most buzzed about Star Wars content, the position of president for Lucasfilm is not so creative and is more on the business side of things. One producer for Star Wars said, ““What people don’t understand is that it’s not a creative job… That’s about 10 percent. The rest of it is dealing with Disney, licensing and fans.”
Kennedy was a seasoned producer with several hit movies under her belt before she was handpicked by George Lucas to take over for him. It’s only natural that the next leader of Star Wars should have the right balance as well.
For now, fans are arguing about what’s the best direction to go, but whoever Kennedy picks, I’m hopeful that they do a good job and manage to get Star Wars out of its nostalgia rut.
