Kathleen Kennedy Responds To Fan Backlash Over Lucasfilm's Unmade STAR WARS Movies
Lucasfilm has a long history of announcing Star Wars projects that never see the light of day, and fans haven’t been shy about voicing their frustration. Over the years, multiple film projects that include entire trilogies from Rian Johnson and the Game of Thrones showrunners, just to name a couple, have disappeared.
Kathleen Kennedy, Lucasfilm’s longtime president, has finally addressed the backlash, pushing back against the scrutiny the studio faces when it comes to development.
Kennedy explained to Deadline: "What’s troubling and frustrating is that our development gets scrutinized, and I don’t know any other production company where their development gets scrutinized like that.
"It’s very hard for anything to happen within Star Wars without some aspect of it becoming public before you even want it to become public."
I get that mot every project in development is destined to be made and some things leak out, however there are projects that have been officially announced at big Star Wars Celebration events that also haven’t been made.
She goes on to say: "So I guess managing the message in some way is also quite a challenge because, of course, not every single thing we put in development we going to make. That’s not unusual.
"We want to make those things that we feel are the best. We want to make those things that, as time passes, feel relevant to what the audience is responding to. So there’s constant discussion around that."
"So yeah, that’s a tricky one because a lot of the scrutiny around Star Wars and the negativity has been about development. Of course, we’re going to develop lots of different things with an understanding that not everything gets made."
Kennedy’s time at Lucasfilm is winding down, but she’s made it clear she’ll be stepping away on her own terms, and it’s not happening anytime soon.
A lot of fans are calling for Dave Filoni to take over, but running Lucasfilm isn’t just about creative vision, it’s about navigating the business and politics of a massive franchise. I’d rather have Filoni on the creative side of things instead of the buisness side.
For now, the Star Wars machine continues under the leadership of Kennedy, and as always, fans will be paying attention to ever little thing they do.