Kathleen Kennedy Addresses Rumor She's Exiting Lucasfilm: "I Will Never Retire From Movies. I Will Die Making Movies"
Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy addressed a recent rumor of her exiting Lucasfilm by the end year saying she “will never retire from movies.”
Earlier this week, Matthew Belloni at Puck claimed Kennedy would be exiting the company. He reported, “After years of speculation, and polite urging from observers like me, Kathleen Kennedy has informed Disney, as well as friends and associates, that she will exit as Lucasfilm president by the end of the year, per three sources.”
Belloni went on to state that Kennedy planned to exit last year and even had an exit interview planned, but chose to stay on through 2025.
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Speaking with Deadline, Kennedy addressed the rumor saying, “The truth is, and I want to just say loud and clear, I am not retiring. I will never retire from movies. I will die making movies. That is the first thing that’s important to say. I am not retiring.”
She then specifically discussed her status at Lucasfilm, “What’s happening at Lucasfilm is I have been talking for quite some time with both Bob and Alan about what eventual succession might look like. We have an amazing bench of people here, and we have every intention of making an announcement months or a year down the road. We are in lockstep as to what that’s going to be, and I am continuing.”
“I’m producing the Mandalorian movie right now, and I’m also producing Shawn Levy’s movie, which is after that. So I’m continuing to stay at Lucasfilm and looking very thoughtfully with Bob and Alan as to who’s stepping in. So that is all underway, and we have every right to make that announcement when we want to make it,” she added.
Kennedy went on to reiterate that there is no chaos behind the scenes at Lucasfilm, “Chaos? There has never been any chaos because we know exactly what the plan is. And we’ve been talking about it, as I said, nonstop for the last couple of years because for obvious reasons — I’m not going to be here forever.”
“George asked me 13 years ago to step in, and now I’m looking at who’s going to replace me. And as I said, we have a bench of people internally to handle the business, the creative side,” she continued. “The job has grown also since I stepped in. There was no streaming, there weren’t a lot of the things that we’re involved in right now going on. So it has grown.”
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When asked when a change at Lucasfilm might occur, Kennedy reiterated, “We’ll probably make an announcement months or a year out, and I have every intention of sticking around to help that person be successful. I’m already producing the Mandalorian movie, and Shawn Levy’s is after that.”
She also noted that previous reports and rumors were just that, rumors, “any discussion previously about me retiring or quitting or any of those things, that’s complete rumor mill because through all these reports, I have just continued doing my job and continuing my contract. Nothing unusual. It all has just been manufactured.”
Kennedy continued to double down. When asked if she was being pushed out, she responded, “Is absolutely not the case. It could not be further from the truth. And everything that we do inside of Lucasfilm is in lockstep and in communication with Disney. We all know what’s going on.”
“The communication has been completely collaborative as you would expect. This is a big piece of business for them, and they want to empower me to help them make that decision and that choice. I’m doing that,” she declared.
Later on in the interview, Kennedy was asked if she might stay at Lucasfilm for another 8 or 10 years. She replied, “I don’t know if I’m going to say that, but yeah, it’s possible.”
Finally, on whether she plans to step down as Lucasfilm President year, she said, “We really don’t know at this stage. There’s so much going on, Mike. I don’t know.”
She then concluded making it clear that if and when she steps down and leaves Lucasfilm it will be her decision, “Me. It’s my decision. This is 100 percent my decision.”
What do you make of Kennedy’s comments?
Just go away already.
I interpret this as, "I lost control of the narrative thanks to Puck. So, now I'm taking it back. "