The news that Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy will be stepping down later this year broke this morning, and THR has now shared an update with a list of potential candidates to replace her - and there are a couple of surprising names here.
Star Wars creator George Lucas hand-picked Kennedy to run the company back in 2012 before selling his ownership stake to Disney, which elected to keep her in place. Now, for the first time, Disney will pick somebody new to lead the next era of the galaxy far, far away.
Kennedy came in for a lot of criticism over the years for a number of missteps associated with the franchise, but there's no arguing with the huge level of success she managed to achieve, and insiders believe finding a replacement will be no easy task.
“One reason Kathy stuck around for so long is because there is no credible alternative,” said one of THR's sources. “What people don’t understand is that it’s not a creative job,” said another. “That’s about 10 percent. The rest of it is dealing with Disney, licensing and fans.”
“It’s really hard to find people who have love and knowledge of Star Wars and can run a big company. This is someone who needs to know how long a lightsaber is and how you charge it,” says Stephen Galloway, dean of Chapman University’s film school (via Variety). “How many executives know the answer to those questions?"
Even so, a few potential names have emerged: Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Hannah Minghella, J.J. Abrams, Emma Watts, and current Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige.
We're not sure if these are all realistic possibilities, but insiders believe that Filoni is the most likely pick. Others feel that Feige would be the best choice, but don't think he's quite finished at Marvel - no matter how much some would love to see him step aside.
Kennedy’s storied career includes work with Steven Spielberg and husband Frank Marshall, with collaborations including Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Gremlins (1984), The Color Purple (1985), The Goonies (1985), Empire of the Sun (1987), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) the Back to the Future trilogy (1985-1990) and the Indiana Jones films, which concluded with last year’s Dial of Destiny. In all, she has produced or executive produced more than 70 films and been nominated for eight Oscars.
Who would you most like to see step in to replace Kathleen Kennedy?