Kathleen Kennedy is finally saying the quiet part out loud. After 14 years running Lucasfilm, the most scrutinized studio job in Hollywood, she admits stepping down comes with "a bit of relief."
Kennedy is handing the company to a two-headed succession: Dave Filoni becomes President and Chief Creative Officer, and Lynwen Brennan serves as Co-President. Both have been at the studio for more than 15 years and will report to Disney Entertainment Co-Chairman Alan Bergman. Kennedy isn't leaving the galaxy, though. She's returning to full-time producing, with The Mandalorian and Grogu and Star Wars: Starfighter next on her slate.
She frames the handoff as a decade in the making. "I spent 10 years talking Dave into gradually stepping into live action," she said. "He had so much experience in animation. He's so knowledgeable about Star Wars and loves it so much, it's really been a 10-year mentoring process." Brennan, who came up through Industrial Light & Magic and served as Kennedy's GM throughout, completes what Kennedy calls a "really pretty seamless" transition.
Key facts:
Kathleen Kennedy steps down as Lucasfilm president after nearly 14 years, admitting "a bit of relief"
Dave Filoni becomes President and Chief Creative Officer; Lynwen Brennan becomes Co-President
Kennedy returns to full-time producing, including The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026) and Star Wars: Starfighter (2027)
Filoni joined Lucasfilm in 2005 under George Lucas; Brennan joined ILM in 1999
Her tenure included The Force Awakens and Rogue One (both over $1B) and the launch of Star Wars on Disney+
Why this matters: Fourteen years is an eternity to run the most argued-about franchise on earth, and Kennedy did it while taking fire from every direction. The succession tells you what Disney actually values now: Filoni is the keeper of the lore, Brennan is the operator who kept the machine running. For actors and filmmakers, the signal is clear. The next Star Wars era will be run by a storyteller and a builder, not a studio politician. That's the best possible news for anyone who wants to work in that galaxy.