Multiple reports earlier this week were saying
that Kathleen Kennedy, the embattled president
of Lucasfilm, since George sold it off to the
House of Mouse, is retiring sometime this year.
To be clear, there are now conflicting reports,
and actually a new breaking report, about this
topic. Look, we've talked about Star Wars, my
first and favorite fandom, and this topic in
particular multiple times on the show. So let's
do a level reset. Kathleen Kennedy has one of
the best resumes of any producer in Hollywood,
full stop. She's an eight time Oscar nominee.
She's produced things like Jurassic Park, Hook,
Schindler's List, Back to the Future, Goonies
and E .T. So when George announced her, because
George picked her, not the house of mouse, George
Lucas picked her as her as his successor and
taking over Lucasfilm. It was a louded announcement.
People were like, yep, that's the right choice.
Time has shown us that this was not a good role
for her. So even if the reports were true, we're
going to talk about why I'm not popping bottles
yet. Right. And also whether the reports are
true. All right. Let's start with the bullshit
and the breaking news. Deadline has the immediate
reaction from Kathleen Kennedy. They got the
interview after the news broke. Here's where
she's going to say something and not say something
at the same time. I am not retiring. What is
happening at Lucasfilm is I have been talking
for quite some time with Bob and Alan about what
the succession might look like. We have an amazing
bench of people and we have every intention of
making an announcement months or a year down
the road. We are locked up as to what that's
going to be. Please note what she said. She said
two things there. I'm not retiring. We're making
an announcement. What does this mean in PR speak?
I think that the initial reporting is correct,
insofar as I think they're going to announce
that she is stepping down as the head of Lucasfilm
at the end of this year, at the end of 2025 when
her contract's up. And I think they know who
they're putting in place. She's not going to
retire, though. They're not going to fire her.
She's just going to go back to doing what she's
actually good at, which is producing movies,
not running a corporation. Right? She's gonna
produce movies. She's married to Frank Marshall.
He produces movies. He's a billion years old,
too. That guy will die and she will die producing
movies. Okay, that's what they're gonna do. So,
do I think that she's gonna keep producing movies
for Star Wars? Yep. Do I think she's gonna produce
movies for other people? Yep. So, is she retiring?
No, she's not gonna go sit on a beach somewhere
and that's what she means. Do I think that Disney
has already identified who's going to take over
for her at the end of this year? Yes. Why am
I not excited about this? Because I don't know
who it is yet. We thought Cathy Kennedy was a
good pick when they announced her. Okay. Chad,
I'll leave it to you. And I've heard a bunch
of you guys' arguments before about who should
take over. And there's been loads of speculation
this week, right? I'm not popping bottles until
we know who's taking that job and until we get
about two years into it So we see what they because
you gotta remember you're putting something to
head of Lucasfilm It's gonna take them two years
to get anything done Okay, making movies is not
a fast fucking process people So there's that
Jay, what are your thoughts I think we know who
it is. Who do you think it is? The only one that
can save us who that could reunite us during
this time of need that can bring us together.
Donald Trump. No. Oh, my God. Definitely not
kidding. I'm kidding. Go, Elon. It's going to
be Elon. He's just going to walk in with a chainsaw
day one. Jesus. Go. The guy, the guy that is,
you know, the chosen one, the promised one that's
going to come in and you reunite the country,
take us back to our childhood, back to our roots,
back to family. Give me a name. Vin Diesel. No,
no, that would be, that would be horrible. I
would, I would cry. Um, no, I'm just kidding.
We actually, I mean, I have no idea. I, I met
Very curious who they are going to select. And
this is very tricky because, like you said, like
we thought this was a good pick to begin with.
And then. You know, we found out like, OK, she's
a really good producer, but can't run a company.
I don't know. It's. I don't know. I really don't.
OK. Who is the troll? The troll. John Favreau,
please no. Please no. Okay, here's what I'm going
to say. One, the head of Lucasfilm does not just
make Star Wars movies. Let's start there. Lucasfilm
is the head of ILM and Skywalker Sound, which
does a not insignificant amount of the special
effects for the entire movie industry. Even stuff
not made by Disney, okay, because they are the
best at what they do. So, I... I'll be honest,
I don't want another movie producer in there.
I don't unless they are doing what DC did. Now,
there's been some speculation that maybe they're
looking at what DC did where they went, we're
going to take James Gunn and Peter Safran and
make them co -presidents, right? James, you're
in charge of creative. Peter, you run the fucking
business and you guys work together to make the
best DC we can make. But if you're going to put
somebody like Favreau or Filoni in there, you
have to put somebody in there that actually knows
something about running a business. Okay? And
I'm talking a multi -billion dollar franchise
and sub -businesses and all this shit. Because
Star Wars is licensing. It's merchandise. It's
brand. It's so many things that is more than
just I made a Star Wars movie. OK. I think you
leave Filoni. Filoni is the chief creative officer
over at Lucasfilm right now, and I think you
leave him right the fuck there. Also, I don't
think Jon Favreau wants to. Be the head of a
company. I think John likes making Mandalorian.
I think he likes popping up in Spider -Man movies.
And Iron Man movies, right? Yeah. There are a
couple of VPs who did somebody sent me the article
hang on let me swing and find it There's a couple
of VPs over at Lucasfilm that might be able to
do it There's some people outside of Disney's
ecosystem that could do it how many people in
the world fit that bill let literally you're
asking that question. It's probably less than
20 There are probably 20 people In the world.
In the entertainment business, who could you
could pluck off the street and go run Lucasfilm,
one of the most valuable and storied franchise
companies in the world. Right. Like, that's not
an easy task. Especially with the state that
the Star Wars fandom is in right now. I think
it's great. I think we should bring back charge
our banks, maybe. Maybe Jar Jar Binks can like
run Lucas Films. Somebody asked about hiring
poachers, somebody from Watson. They're not a
big enough company. They're just not. And then
it's not they're not an entertainment company.
You have to understand Hollywood. Right. Which
is why one of the reasons the whole Wizards D
&D Hasbro D &D like movie shit didn't work and
why Hasbro ended up selling E1. because. You
know, they screwed it up. Hasbro bought a production
company in Hollywood, screwed it up and ended
up selling it for way less than they bought it
for because they didn't know how to make movies.
Get realistic about potential options. Five years
ago, Feige would have been an option. Again,
there's a couple of people and I just I don't
have the article in front of me. Maybe I can
find it real quick. There's a couple of people
at Lucasfilm who might be able to do it. Hollywood
Reporter had a bunch of people that they identified.
Favreau, Filoni, Feige, Emma Watts. She could
probably do it. She's a 20th Century Fox Hannah
McGillum, maybe Emma Watson's not a bad pick
most again as people you don't they're not household
names So Do I want Kathy Kennedy out? Yes, I
do. I don't I don't want her there anymore I
think she just screwed it up really really bad
and I respect her as producer But she's a fucking
terrible company head. And I don't know why Disney's
left her there for as long as they have, because
she has she has done some serious damage to Star
Wars. Yeah, and I'll I'll say, like, it's not
God, it's not an easy job. I don't I don't even
I wouldn't I wouldn't want to do it, to be completely
honest. It's it's one of those things where Um,
I used to really love working on cars. Like I
would skip school in high school to go to the
junk yard. Uh, and so everyone was like, Oh,
like you're going to become a mechanic. And I
was like, no, like that's my hobby. I don't want
it to become my job. I, I would not want to be.
I wouldn't, I would hate for someone to be like.
J is the reason why Star Wars sucks, which you're
never going to make every Star Wars fan happy.
Nope. So no, I would. Well, and somebody in the
in the Twitch chat to bring up something. And
again, I've actually heard this from multiple
creatives. There are directors who have out and
out said out loud, I will not work on a Star
Wars movie right now. I won't touch that with
a 10 foot pole because the fandom is just too
much right now. Like. There's just no way to
do it. And again, being a studio head is also
not being a creative. That is not your job. Right.
That that's not what you do. OK. You're showing
our show notes, man. Oh, wow. That's fine. Oh,
my God. I had something else. Build. Yeah. Yeah.
Your job is to make money for the company. That's
that's absolutely right, chat. That is their
job. And that's what they're supposed to do.
Like, I hate to fucking say it, but that's the
deal, baby. Yeah. So get somebody like Emma Watts
or a studio head that they've already got. That's
like a smaller studio head. Put them in charge
of Lucasfilm. Somebody who can go you, you, you,
you, you, you five people make new good Star
Wars content and leave them the fuck alone. OK.
Like that's what you do. So anyway, so there
you go Kathleen's not retiring, but she's probably
leaving Lucasfilm Good I'll be happy once I know
who the hell's coming in and you know what I'll
be happy when we actually get another Star Wars
movie Because I am pissed that I've had no Star
Wars on the big screen in six fucking years Okay,
that's to me is the biggest crime here. Okay,
nothing Anyway, let us know what you think down
in the comments below