Rumor: Dave Filoni And Lynwen Brennan To Succeed Kathleen Kennedy As Heads Of Lucasfilm And Star Wars

A new rumor suggests that Dave Filoni and Lynwen Brennan will succeed Kathleen Kennedy as the heads of Lucasfilm and Star Wars.

Matthew Belloni at Puck in an article titled “20 Surefire, 100 Percent Probable Hollywood Predictions for 2026 (Part One), stated, “Kathleen Kennedy is indeed stepping down as Lucasfilm president, and Dave Filoni, currently the chief creative officer of the Star Wars unit, will be elevated into the top job.”

“Filoni has never really been a traditional executive, so they’re giving him a partner in Lynwen Brennan, currently president and general manager of Lucasfilm Business, but he’ll be the decider on the creative direction of the franchise in film, television, and any other platforms in the galaxy,” Belloni added.

Additionally, he shared that Kennedy’s publicist Simon Halls has already set up an exit interview for her.

Belloni had previously reported in February 2025 that Kennedy would exit by the end of 2025. However, 2025 came and went and Kathleen Kennedy is still President of Lucasfilm.

Following Belloni’s rumor in 2025, Kennedy went to the press and made clear she was not retiring. She told Deadline, “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.

She also made clear there was 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.”

As for when a change might happen, Kennedy added, “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.

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.”

In April 2025 during Star Wars Celebration in Japan, Kennedy doubled down telling Collider, “I’m not retired. I’m not going anywhere.”

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