Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy, 71, announced she has no plans to leave Lucasfilm any time soon.
While at Star Wars Celebration in Japan, Kennedy informed Collider, “I’m not retired. I’m not going anywhere.”
The comments come in the wake of a rumor back at the end of February that she would be exiting the company. Matthew Belloni at Puck reported at the time, “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.
READ: Henry Cavill's 'Highlander' Film Finds New Home At Amazon
However, Kennedy addressed the rumor in an interview with Deadline 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.
Lucasfilm announced at Star Wars Celebration that Ryan Gosling will be starring in Shawn Levy’s film that is titled Star Wars: Starfighter and is set 5 years after The Rise of Skywalker.
In her interview with Deadline, 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.”
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.”
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.
READ: Rumor: Amazon MGM Studios To Make New Judge Dredd Series
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 this 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?
For an alternative to Star Wars, read The Saga of the Nano Templar and get your military science fiction and space opera fix.
NEXT: 'The King Of Kings' Nearly Doubles Opening Weekend Grosses In Second Weekend
Even if she leaves her acolytes like Filoni would still be in control of Star Wars.
If she's not going to gracefully exuent stage left, then she can be fired. That's what needs to happen.