Kathleen Kennedy has three “Star Wars” projects she’s particularly proud of from her tenure at Lucasfilm.
On Wednesday night at Bloomberg’s Screentime, Kennedy was asked about her proudest achievements at the company. While she weathered through a tumultuous time in the franchise’s history – at least according to the fandom – she had three distinct favorites from her time working in a galaxy far, far away.
“I’m incredibly proud of the fact that we were able to create ‘Force Awakens,’ for instance, which relaunched the franchise and started new storytelling, introduced a whole new series of stories,” the exec said. “I think ‘Andor’ in the television space is something I feel incredibly proud of. I think ‘Mandalorian,’ same thing. Many people who enjoyed ‘Mandalorian’ were able to sit down with their families. We launched that in the middle of COVID, and needless to say, that was a very disrupting time in the industry. So, I feel very proud of those shows.”
A hand-picked successor to George Lucas, Kennedy joined Lucasfilm in 2012, just months before Disney acquired the company for $4 billion. Since then, she has overseen the company’s most ambitious expansion since its formation in 1971.
Along with the sequel trilogy to the Skywalker Saga, “Andor,” and “The Mandalorian,” she also oversaw standalone “Star Wars” films like “Rogue One” and “Solo.” Outside of the science fantasy franchise, she also dusted off the Indiana Jones franchise with 2023’s “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.”
One of her favorites – “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” – became the highest-grossing domestic film of all time with $936 million at the U.S. box office and more than $2 billion worldwide. She still has the upcoming “Star Wars: Starfighter” starring Ryan Gosling coming out in 2027 along with a second season of the Disney+ series Ahsoka.
When Kennedy announced she was stepping down in January, Dave Filoni was announced as president and chief creative officer of Lucasfilm and Lynwen Brennan was named co-president.
