Kathleen Kennedy Contract Renewal May Spell Disaster For The ‘Star Wars’ Franchise

Kathleen Kennedy is a film producer and the current president of Lucasfilm. Although the first film she produced was the beloved “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” she has received criticism for the way that she has handled the “Star Wars” franchise.

Many fans were hoping that Jon Favreau or Dave Filoni would take over for Kennedy once her contract expired at the end of October 2021, but her contract was quietly renewed through 2024.

Although George Lucas himself picked Kennedy to helm Lucasfilm when his studio was bought by Disney in the 2012 acquisition, many of the decisions that Kennedy has made has proved controversial and might spell disaster for the “Star Wars” franchise at large.

Even before “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” hit theaters, there were already problems behind the scenes. Part of this was the alleged dispute between screenwriter Michael Arndt and J.J. Abrams, which led to Arndt being removed from the project. Although Lawrence Kasdan was brought in to help Abrams finish the script, the film’s release was still delayed by six months.

Although many felt that “The Force Awakens” was just a retelling of the original trilogy, the same could not be said of its sequel, “The Last Jedi,” directed by Rian Johnson. The film discarded many of Abrams original characters, including Captain Phasma (Gwendoline Christie) and Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis), leaving little room for maneuverability in the final act.

Although the third film “The Rise of Skywalker” was supposed to be written and directed by Colin Trevorrow, he was replaced by Abrams following the cold reception of Trevorrow’s “The Book of Henry,” although Kennedy officially cited “creative differences” for his departure. Abrams was brought in to direct, and both he and Chris Terrio rushed to complete the film in eighteen months.

Many have criticized Lucasfilm’s decision to bring in three different directors to direct three films that were supposed to be part of one unifying trilogy. Even Kennedy herself seems to recognize this in an interview asking why she decided to replace Trevorrow from the project.

“Colin was at a huge disadvantage not having been a part of ‘Force Awakens’ and in part of those early conversations because we had a general sense of where the story was going,” she explained. “We were on a schedule, as we often are with these movies, and had to make a tough decision as to whether or not we thought we could get there in the time or not. And as I said, Colin was at a disadvantage because he hadn’t been immersed in everything that we all had starting out with Episode VII.”

This is not the first time that Kennedy has decided to release someone from a project due to alleged “creative differences.”

During the filming of “Rogue One,” director Gareth Edwards was removed from the film during production and was replaced by Tony Gilroy, who had to completely re-shoot the film’s third act.

During the filming of “Solo,” Phil Lord and Chris Miller were fired mid-production. Ron Howard was selected to take over; however, he had to re-shoot half the film, which resulted in the budget becoming more than double what had been anticipated. This was an unfortunate loss for Disney, as “Solo” proved to be a box office flop.

Even the “Star Wars” TV series are not exempt from “creative differences.” Although fans are looking forward to the Ewan McGregor-led “Kenobi,” production was pushed back from January 2020 to January 2021 after screenwriter Hosein Amini was fired and Joby Harold had to take over.

The Disney+ series “Andor” also faced setbacks when showrunner Stephen Schiff was let go. Although Gilroy took over this project as well, he was later replaced by Toby Haynes when COVID-19 traveling restrictions made it difficult for him to continue working on the project.

And, of course, these are just the projects that have faced delays. There was also the untitled Boba Fett film that was supposed to be directed by Josh Trank. Although James Mangold was brought on to direct, he was later released from the project as well. There was also an Obi-Wan Kenobi film set to be directed by Stephen Daldry, but that was canceled after “Solo” bombed at the box office. The “Rangers of the New Republic” series, which was supposed to star Gina Carano, was canned after Carano was fired for her controversial social media posts.

“Game of Thrones” creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss also announced plans to create an untitled “Star Wars” film series, although they walked away from the project to strike a deal with Netflix. Rian Johnson’s trilogy has not been canceled, but there have been no details since it was announced in 2017. Consider that Johnson is working on “Knives Out 2” and “Knives Out 3,” fans might be waiting a while to see Johnson’s trilogy, if it ever happens at all.

As The Blast previously reported, Patty Jenkins was supposed to be directing “Rogue Squadron,” which had a release date of December 22, 2023. The film was removed from the production schedule due to Jenkins’ busy filming schedule, consisting of two Gal Gadot-led projects: “Wonder Woman 3” and “Cleopatra.”

However, new reports are coming in that Jenkins left the project because she and Kennedy could not agree on a script, so it might be a while before “Rogue Squadron” finally takes flight as the hunt begins for someone else to helm the project.

Although script rewrites and staff changes are common for the entertainment industry, one has to wonder: would “Star Wars” be better off with someone else in charge?