Star Wars: Sources Claim Lucasfilm President's Role Is Secure, Kevin Feige Not Expected to Take on Bigger Position
The Star Wars franchise is in a state of major flux as the end of the Skywalker Saga approaches [...]
The Star Wars franchise is in a state of major flux as the end of the Skywalker Saga approaches with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker this holiday season. The last week alone has brought several big headlines about what's going on over at Lucasfilm right now, with the biggest being the studio parting ways with Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. Now a new report is digging into what happened with the Benioff and Weiss Star Wars film, and it claims that as of now, Marvel fans shouldn't hang too many hopes on Kevin Feige swooping in and taking charge of Star Wars.
As reported by Variety:
"Sources at the studio insist that [Kathleen] Kennedy's job is secure despite the churn of filmmaking talent... "Star Wars" fans did receive some welcome news when it was revealed the Kevin Feige, the executive credited with guiding the Marvel Cinematic Universe, will work on a standalone "Star Wars" film. That led to speculation that Feige might be brought in to stabilize Lucasfilm, but insiders say that there are no plans to give him a larger role in that division."
At the moment, just actively greenlighting Kevin Feige's Star Wars standalone film would probably be enough of a big step forward to generate significant positive buzz for the franchise. The report Variety (and other outlets) basically points to a lot of uncertainty over at Lucasfilm right now, with no apparent sure plan for what's to come after The Rise of Skywalker. That's not to say Star Wars is stalling - quite the opposite, in fact. The series is about to launch a big push into the TV market with new series like The Mandalorian and Obi-Wan Kenobi coming to the Disney+ streaming service.
As far as the movie side goes, Lucasfilm is far from out of options. As stated, a Kevin Feige Star Wars standalone would be enough to fill the already-reserved 2022 release date the franchise has staked out; there's also Last Jedi director Rian Johnson who is noted in the latest report as being one of the view directors on great terms with Kennedy, and was, "hired to oversee a separate trilogy of "Star Wars" films, which remains in development, though it's unclear how far along work is on the production." The report also notes that Lucasfilm met with other writers for possible Star Wars pitches when things went south with Weiss and Benioff, so who knows what became of those meetings.
The Mandalorian premieres on Disney+ on November 12th. Star Wars: The Riske of Skywalker hits theaters on December 20th.