Kathleen Kennedy is reportedly retiring at the end of the year, and she leaves behind her a mixed legacy for Lucasfilm and Star Wars. Star Wars fans awoke today to a great disturbance in the Force; reports that Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy is retiring at the end of the year. George Lucas’ chosen successor, Kennedy had served as something of a lightning rod for criticism of the Disney era. She’d found herself frequently targeted by online campaigns, YouTubers, and even South Park.

All that makes it rather difficult to establish Kennedy’s true legacy. Has her tenure been a successful one? Is she some kind of “woke warrior” responsible for pushing a political agenda at Lucasfilm? The truth is probably rather more complex than her detractors on those aforementioned YouTube channels like to think.

Kathleen Kennedy Was Responsible For Turning Lucasfilm Into A Functioning Studio

Kathleen Kennedy wasn’t Disney’s choice; she was Lucas’. He brought her into role shortly before selling Lucasfilm to Disney, an attempt to control his legacy. As Disney CEO Bob Iger recalled in his autobiography The Ride of a Lifetime:

“A few months before we closed the deal, George hired the producer Kathleen Kennedy to run Lucasfilm. Kathy had cofounded Amblin Entertainment along with her husband, Frank Marshall, and Steven Spielberg, and had produced E.T. and the Jurᴀssic Park franchise and dozens of critical and commercial hits. It was an interesting move on George’s part. We were on the verge of buying the company, but he suddenly decided who was going to run it and ultimately produce the upcoming films. It didn’t upset us, but it did come as a surprise, just as it surprised Kathy to learn that the company she was agreeing to run was about to be sold! Kathy is a legendary producer, and she has been a great partner, and this was one final way for George to put someone in whom he trusted to be the steward of his legacy.”

But Kennedy faced an unenviable challenge, one that we tend to underestimate. As Iger noted, “Lucas had many talented employees, particularly on the tech side, but no directors other than George, and no film development or production pipeline.” Kennedy essentially had to build a studio from the ground up, which likely explains the many Star Wars movies and TV shows that were canceled due to “creative differences.“

Those first few years were no doubt very difficult. Disney needed to recoup costs, leading to an ambitious push to release three movies by the end of 2018; Kennedy (more than) pulled it off, but the accounts of behind-the-scenes drama on Rogue One and Solo are legendary. The studio moved away from the big screen from 2019, and seem to have learned some important lessons; The Mandalorian and Grogu will release next year, and production there appears to have been smooth.

Disney Often Hampered Kennedy’s Best Efforts

I’ve already alluded to the fact that Kennedy often found herself operating under constraints imposed by Disney. The House of Mouse had spent $4.05 billion acquiring Lucasfilm, and there needed to be a return on that investment. In 2018, there have been reports Kennedy peтιтioned Disney to push back Solo to December, believing the movie wasn’t ready. She was overruled, and Solo became Star Wars‘ first box office flop, overshadowed by Avengers: Infinity War and poorly marketed because Disney thought the franchise couldn’t fail.

Fast-forward to Disney’s Investor Day in 2020, and Lucasfilm announced an overly ambitious slate of movies and TV shows to come out over the next few years. This announcement should have been prophetic, but it is remembered mostly because so much of it did not happen. But, again, this wasn’t Kennedy’s fault; Iger’s replacement, Bob Chapek, is believed to have pushed Lucasfilm to make premature announcements.

Even the push to make Star Wars TV shows came from a corporate mandate. Disney+ was a priority for the House of Mouse, and every Disney studio was expected to prioritize making original content that would ensure the streamer was a success. Kennedy greenlit The Mandalorian – a prudent choice – and reverse-engineered several film pitches, turning them into shows.

Kennedy Had A Lot Of Major Missteps Over The Years

Disney’s corporate mandates make it very hard to say for certain what Kennedy’s legacy really is; how many of the mistakes were her fault? But it doesn’t absolve her of overall responsibility for the state of the franchise, because that is what it means to be the boss. Most importantly, the cultural issues at Lucasfilm – issues that led to so many cases of creative conflict – were recurring. Lucasfilm allowed Phil Lord and Chris Miller far too much independence during production of Solo, for example, stepping in and firing them far too late in the day when Kennedy lost confidence in them.

And that, unfortunately, brings me to The Acolyte. Leslye Headland’s High Republic TV show appeared to be seen as something of a reset point for Star Wars, introducing viewers to an ongoing adventure set in a whole new part of the timeline. It didn’t pay off, instead resulting in a fierce online backlash, a review-bombing campaign, and disappointing viewership. The Acolyte was canceled, the first Star Wars TV show to officially meet that fate. It left an already-divided fanbase shattered and exhausted. Skeleton Crew has helped ameliorate that, but Kennedy nonetheless leaves under a fresh cloud.

Star Wars Desperately Needs A Relaunch Now The Kennedy Era Is Ending

Was Kennedy successful as president of Lucasfilm? She certainly wasn’t a failure; the sequel trilogy grossed over $4 billion worldwide, after all, and The Mandalorian was the flagship show of Disney+ – a franchise with such cultural significance that it will usher Star Wars back into theaters. But she also wasn’t an untrammeled success, and there were so many mistakes and missteps.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that reports of Kennedy’s departure have leaked so soon after the Andor season 2 trailer. The first season of Tony Gilroy’s dark, cerebral Star Wars TV show was undeniably one of the highlights of the Kennedy era, popular and critically acclaimed; viewership was low, but it has been sustained over the years. Season 2 already felt like a line drawn under the past; the final show from that fateful Disney Investor Day back in 2020, leaving the future in motion.

This year’s Star Wars Celebration feels like something of a reset moment, an opportunity to relaunch the franchise ahead of The Mandalorian and Grogu. In truth, we need that; 2024 was a particularly bad year for the Star Wars fandom, and there’s a sense of desperation right now, an eagerness for something fresh and new. That, fundamentally, is Kennedy’s abiding legacy; she will be remembered for some successes, yes, but ultimately for the fact we need a reset. It’s not entirely fair, because the problems aren’t all her fault, but it is what it is. She is stepping down at the right time.