Kathleen Kennedy has officially stepped down as the head of Lucasfilm, and giving the reins to Dave Filoni and Lynwen Brennan. But a new interview with Deadline is shining light on several Star Wars projects that are in the balance. They have The Mandalorian and Grogu and Star Wars: Starfighter on the docket for 2026 and 2027 officially, but that’s it for concrete releases. They’ve announced plenty of other films in the meantime. Kennedy talked about projects like Starfighter, Mandalorian and Grogu, and other films that might not be on the release schedule, but are on the “backburner”.

Here’s what she had to say about Star Wars: Starfighter.

It was envisioned as a single film. Shawn Levy just made the experience so pleasant for everybody, and we found this 14-year-old kid out of Ireland who had virtually no experience. That’s always risky, hanging a story so much on a child actor. You’re not exactly sure how comfortable they’re going to be. Flynn Gray turned out to be such a special kid.

When you cast kids, a lot of it becomes about the parents. He has great parents and got lucky there, too.

Not only was he there with Ryan Gosling; this movie is structured in a way that he had kind of a new actor coming in every few weeks that he was one-on-one with. Matt Smith, Amy Adams, Aaron Pierre. And each one, it was so great to watch him because he would just get so excited by the actors he got to work with. It was like he was in the best university you could possibly be in.

She then talked about several of the films including ones from James Mangold, Simon Kinberg, Rian Johnson, and others.

I’ve got to tread a bit carefully here. Jim Mangold and Beau Willimon wrote an incredible script, but it is definitely breaking the mold and it’s on hold. Taika has turned in a script that I think is hilarious and great. It’s not just my decision, especially when I’ve got a foot out the door. Donald Glover has turned in a script. And as you have read, Steve Soderbergh and Adam Driver turned in a script written by Scott Burns. It was just great. Anything’s a possibility if somebody’s willing to take a risk.

I remember when I came into this job, the first thing Bob Iger said to me was, “Be bold.” I’ve always liked that because I think you have to be bold and you have to be willing to take risks with people and with ideas. Otherwise you are just doing the same thing. Right now we’re in an era where companies are so risk-averse, and I get it. I hear all the conversations. They’ve got Wall Street to please, and I get it, but I also believe that that’s what contributes to things disappearing, ultimately. I just think you have to take those chances.

Everything I just reeled off to you is taking a bit of a chance because none of those filmmakers are just walking in trying to do same old, same old. I’m excited by that, but the studio’s nervous about that, and that’s kind of where it sits at the moment.

Finally, she talked about the films that Simon Kinberg and that others are actively working on.

He’s working right now. He wrote something that we read in August, and it was very good, but not there. We’ve pretty much upended the story, and then spent a great deal of time on the treatment, which he finished literally about four weeks ago. And it’s a very detailed treatment, like 70 pages. And so he is expected to give us something in March.

We’ve talked about this new trilogy and then the things that you’ve mentioned. Mangold’s is really on the back burner as is Soderbergh’s. I think the ones by Taika and Donald are still somewhat alive. That’s going to really be up to the new team to figure out. Dave, I know that Dave and Lynwen are very much on board with what Simon’s doing, and that would be a new trilogy. In the timeline of things, that takes you well into 2030 plus. So that’s really what’s up next.

For more on Star Wars, make sure to check back to That Hashtag Show.

Source: Deadline

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Kathleen Kennedy Is Stepping Down At Lucasfilm, Being Replaced By Dave Filoni And Lynwen Brennan