A surprising shake-up at Lucasfilm sees Rayne Roberts depart to Searchlight Pictures, with newcomer Derek Hoffman taking over as Vice President, Development. It feels like a time of change over at Lucasfilm; the various TV shows and movies announced back in 2020 have essentially wrapped up (some completed, to mixed success, while others have been canceled). Most are viewing this year’s Star Wars Celebration as the beginning of a relaunch, with 2026’s The Mandalorian and Grogu kicking off a new era for the studio.

First spotted on Reddit (via Star Wars News Net), there appear to have also been major structural changes at Lucasfilm. Rayne Roberts, vice president of film development and a key figure since she joined Lucasfilm back in 2012, has moved on to Searchlight Pictures. Derek Hoffman has now been appointed as Vice President, Development in her stead. Here’s Lucasfilm’s official profile on Hoffman:

“Since attending Indiana University, Derek Hoffman has worked in the film, video game and comic book industry for the last 24 years. Getting his start with The Donners’ Company as a runner, he quickly moved into an ᴀssistant role for director Richard Donner and then to ᴀssociate producer on the feature film Timeline and co-producer on 16 Blocks. Derek next became a development executive and later vice president for the company where he worked on each film in the X-Men franchise, including as ᴀssociate producer on X-Men: Days of Future Past.

Derek ultimately spearheaded the franchise’s move into television serving as co-executive producer on the FX series Legion and as executive producer on FOX’s The Gifted.

At Lucasfilm, Derek will help lead the team that develops our stories for adaptation in live action.”

Derek Hoffman Has A Great History With The X-Men

He Was Involved With Some Of Fox’s Best Projects

It’s true that Fox’s X-Men era had a lot of stumbles, and came to an unfortunate end with X-Men: Dark Phoenix and New Mutants. But Hoffman is tied to some of the franchise’s biggest successes, including some projects that frankly feel as though they exceeded many recent Marvel Studios movies and TV shows. Legion and The Gifted were both phenomenal, the former unique among all superhero fare.

Even X-Men: Days of Future Past is a key movie to point to. That particular film trod a careful balance between nostalgia and fresh stories, weaving the original X-Men cast into a story with the First Class stars. Lucasfilm often has to find the same kind of balance with Star Wars, where there is a desperate need to move beyond mere nostalgia and do something far more original. Leslye Headland’s canceled Star Wars TV show, The Acolyte, was at least a step in that direction – even if it didn’t quite work out.

Our Take On Derek Hoffman’s New Role

A Promising Sign Of A Coming Relaunch?

The last few years have been difficult for Lucasfilm, with the studio struggling to figure out how to get Star Wars back on to the big screen after Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Lucasfilm’s pivot to live-action Disney+ TV shows has been mostly successful, but with diminishing returns, and The Acolyte‘s controversies have likely led to some significant changes. Rayne Roberts will no doubt go on to great success at Searchlight, but Hoffman’s role in upcoming Star Wars movies will be particularly exciting.

All in all, this structural change – never officially announced by Lucasfilm, slipping under the radar and only spotted by the fans – is a promising sign. It suggests there really is something of a shake-up going on at Lucasfilm, one that will hopefully see the dawn of a new era of Star Wars blockbusters. We’ll surely learn more about what’s coming at Star Wars Celebration.

Source: Reddit (via Star Wars News Net), Lucasfilm