Star Wars: Kathleen Kennedy's Contract With Lucasfilm Reportedly Renewed For Three More Years
Lucasfilm has reportedly been renewed for three more years. Collider has the news, and this all comes just days after other murmurs of creative differences with Patty Jenkins over Rogue Squadron's direction. Star Wars has become even bigger than ever in the last half-decade. While the Sequel Trilogy has been much discussed by fans, it undoubtedly kept people coming to the theater. Some spectators thought that the fan reaction to the trio of projects would lead to a switch up of the creative leads for the series. It appears that this isn't the case as she will remain with Lucasfilm until 2024. Later this year, viewers will finally get to see what The Book of Boba Fett holds. If that weren't enough, the company has the highly-anticipated return of Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi next year on Disney+. So, it will be interesting to see what the franchise has in store for the next few years.
Lots of digital ink has been spilled about the notion of Star Wars fatigue. For Kennedy, she's not worried about that at the moment. People have been loving The Mandalorian, and Boba Fett looks poised to reel in viewers by the truckload too.
"I don't think there was a worry about that," she told The L.A. Times. "And I think we've been pleasantly surprised. We're going into television. We've never done [live-action] television for Star Wars. So, yes, there's an unknown and I suppose you could say there was an underlying risk. But what we absolutely knew is that the two are very different in look and feel and were not in any way trying to do the same thing. So we arrived at a point of view pretty early that we thought the two could live comfortably side by side. And I actually think the fans are having fun with Mandalorian and I think it will only help The Rise of Skywalker."
The road ahead for Star Wars is an interesting one. After The Rise of Skywalker, there are so many different approaches that could come into play.
"Obviously, that's what's we've been spending so much time talking about, and it's a really important transition for 'Star Wars,'" Kennedy began. "What we've been focused on these last five or six years is finishing that family saga around the Skywalkers. Now is the time to start thinking about how to segue into something new and different."
"I think it gives us a more open-ended view of storytelling and doesn't lock us into this three-act structure," she added. "We're not going to have some finite number and fit it into a box. We're really going to let the story dictate that."
How do you feel about Kennedy's extension? Let us know down in the comments!