Star Wars Shakeup: Dave Filoni & Lynwen Brennan New Lucasfilm Presidents As Kathleen Kennedy Returns To Producing

In a long expected transition, Kathleen Kennedy is stepping down as president of Lucasfilm this week, after nearly 14 years leading the studio. She will continue as producer of the studio’s next two theatrical films, The Mandalorian and Grogu (release date: May 22, 2026) and Shawn Levy’s Star Wars: Starfighter (release date: May 28, 2027). She will then pursue other producing projects independently. Kathleen KennedyLucasfilm The new leaders are hardly coming from a galaxy far, far away. The new President/Chief Creative Officer is Dave Filoni , who has been Lucasfilm EVP and Chief Creative Officer. Serving as Lucasfilm’s new Co-President is Lynwen Brennan , the longtime President & GM of Lucasfilm Business. This transition has been percolating for about two years as Disney and Kennedy sought a seamless transition. Filoni and Brennan are veteran senior leaders at Lucasfilm who have worked closely with Kennedy since she accepted George Lucas ’ job offer in 2012, shortly before Lucasfilm was acquired by Disney. Filoni and Brennan bring complementary expertise and experience spanning the studio’s entire business. Watch on Deadline Back then, the shingle hadn’t made a big movie in about a decade. After that $4 billion-plus acquisition, Lucasfilm launched a new era of Star Wars storytelling and franchise expansion that bore five theatrical films that grossed $5.9 billion globally. That started with the J.J. Abrams-directed 2015 film Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which remains the biggest ever North American box office performer at $936.5 million, and is one of seven films to crack the $2B global gross mark. The Last Jedi grossed $1.3B, and The Rise of Skywalker completed the third Skywalker theatrical trilogy with $1B in global gross. The stand-alone film Rogue One grossed over $1B and hatched the Emmy-winning follow-up series Andor. The Mandalorian took the opposite path, enlisting Jon Favrau to launch Lucasfilm’s first foray into live-action series to anchor the launch of the Disney+ platform in 2019. Favreau expands that tale to the big screen this summer. Subsequent limited and live-action series have included Obi Wan Kenobi , Ahsoka , and Andor. The series have garnered 85 Emmy nominations. Lucasfilm also branched into animated series with Star Wars Rebels , The Bad Batch , Tales of the Jedi , Young Jedi Adventures , and Visions. The company also partnered with Disney Experiences on the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge immersive worlds at Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland. Lucasfilm Games has hatched numerous properties including new stories from the adventures of Cal Kestis and Indiana Jones, to delivering on groundbreaking integrations in Fortnite. Filoni was tapped by Lucas in to build Lucasfilm’s animation studio from the ground up and created its first series, the Emmy-winning Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and Star Wars Rebels . Filoni is the executive producer, episodic director and writer on multiple Emmy-winning live-action series including The Mandalorian and Ahsoka and producer and writer of Lucasfilm’s upcoming feature film The Mandalorian and Grogu . Brennan joined Industrial Light & Magic (now ILM) in 1999, rising...

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