Changing of the Guard at Lucasfilm: Dave Filoni Takes Over as Kathleen Kennedy Steps Down

Kathleen Kennedy is stepping down as president of Lucasfilm after 14 years, with George Lucas protégé Dave Filoni promoted to president and chief creative officer and executive Lynwen Brennan taking over as co-president. Kennedy will produce The Mandalorian and Grogu and Star Wars: Starfighter before going independent. The shake-up marks a generational changing of the guard for Star Wars.

After 14 years steering Star Wars through the modern era, Kathleen Kennedy is stepping down as president of Lucasfilm — and George Lucas protégé Dave Filoni is stepping up to take creative command. Filoni becomes president and chief creative officer, while longtime executive Lynwen Brennan takes over the business side as co-president, closing one chapter of Star Wars and opening another that has the fandom buzzing about what comes next.

The End of the Kennedy Era

Kennedy's departure, effective this week, has long been expected — but it still marks a seismic shift for one of Hollywood's biggest brands. A veteran producer with eight Best Picture Oscar nominations to her name on films like The Sixth Sense and Lincoln, plus credits on Indiana Jones and E.T., Kennedy joined Lucasfilm in 2012 as co-chair alongside George Lucas. Within months — after Disney's $4 billion acquisition and Lucas's exit — she was elevated to sole head of the company.

She isn't leaving the galaxy far, far away all at once. Kennedy will stay on as a producer on the next two Lucasfilm films, The Mandalorian and Grogu, arriving May 22, and 2027's Star Wars: Starfighter, before pursuing projects as an independent producer.

"It has been a true privilege to spend more than a decade working alongside the extraordinary talent at Lucasfilm. Their creativity and dedication have been an inspiration, and I'm deeply proud of what we've accomplished together." — Kathleen Kennedy

Who Are Dave Filoni and Lynwen Brennan?

The new leadership splits creative and business duties — a common Disney strategy mirrored at Pixar (Pete Docter and Jim Morris) and Walt Disney Animation (Jared Bush and Clark Spencer). Filoni, mentored by Lucas himself, came up through animation, overseeing beloved series like The Clone Wars before teaming with Jon Favreau on live-action hits including The Mandalorian and Ahsoka. Brennan joined Lucasfilm in 1999 and rose to president of Industrial Light & Magic before stepping into her current role in 2015, overseeing all of the company's business operations. Both report to Alan Bergman, co-chairman of Disney Entertainment.

A Decade of Highs and Lows

Kennedy's tenure reshaped Star Wars on the big and small screen. She courted J.J. Abrams to direct Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the $2 billion-grossing 2015 feature that revived the saga after a decade-long film hiatus and still stands as the top-grossing movie of all time at the domestic box office with $936.6 million. More films followed: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story ($1 billion), The Last Jedi ($1.33 billion), Solo: A Star Wars Story ($392.9 million), and The Rise of Skywalker ($1 billion).

It wasn't always smooth. Kennedy replaced directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller with Ron Howard mid-production on Solo — which became the first theatrical Star Wars film to lose money — and brought Tony Gilroy in to overhaul Rogue One, a gamble that paid off and later spawned the Emmy-winning Disney+ series Andor. After Rise of Skywalker's mixed reception, Disney paused the films, with CEO Bob Iger admitting the studio had made too many movies too quickly. Announced projects from David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, Rian Johnson, Taika Waititi, and a Daisy Ridley-led film all stalled in development.

Television Was the Real Triumph

Where the films faltered, Kennedy's bet on television soared. Bringing Favreau in to launch the first live-action Star Wars TV series produced The Mandalorian, which catapulted Baby Yoda (Grogu) into pop-culture superstardom and became the flagship show for Disney+ at its 2019 launch. Results since have been mixed — 2024's The Acolyte drew backlash from a faction of the fanbase — but Andor proved Star Wars could tackle political storytelling, ending its run with five Emmys and 22 nominations. In all, Star Wars series under Kennedy earned 85 Emmy nominations. Still on the way: a second season of Ahsoka and the animated Maul: Shadow Lord.

What the New Leadership Inherits

Filoni arrives with a reputation for intimate, almost arcane franchise knowledge — an asset in animation, though seasons of The Mandalorian and Ahsoka were criticized for leaning too deep into lore for casual viewers. Lucasfilm currently has two films dated: The Mandalorian and Grogu on May 22 and Shawn Levy's Star Wars: Starfighter on May 28, 2027. After a quiet stretch during the succession search, observers expect Lucasfilm to shift back into high gear. In Iger's words at Kennedy's sendoff, she was "handpicked by George Lucas himself," while Bergman called her "a tremendous force in the industry for 50 years."

Why Fans Are Buzzing

Few jobs in entertainment carry the emotional weight of running Lucasfilm, and the fandom has spent years debating the franchise's direction. Handing creative control to Dave Filoni — a Lucas disciple who helped make The Mandalorian and Ahsoka — signals continuity for some and a fresh start for others. With two films on the calendar, new seasons of Ahsoka and Maul: Shadow Lord coming, and even the theme parks leaning back toward the original trilogy, fans see this as a genuine inflection point. The journey to reawaken the Force won't be straightforward, but for the first time in a while, Star Wars feels ready to move ahead at full throttle.