Star Wars Boss Is Reportedly Retiring This Year, Which Could Be A Major Shakeup

There might be a great disturbance in the Force, as a new report claims that Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy will retire later this year. The executive has overseen the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises since Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012.

Puck reported that Kennedy has let Disney and friends know about her plans to step down from Lucasfilm. However, while Variety corroborated Puck, the trade publication added that one of its sources said nothing has been finalized as of yet. Kennedy was in charge of bringing Star Wars back to the silver screen with the sequel trilogy, which started with The Force Awakens in 2015 and ended with The Rise of Skywalker in 2019. She also expanded the franchise with non-Skywalker Saga films like Rogue One and Solo: A Star Wars Story--let alone the multiple Disney+ shows.

One area that Kennedy seemed to stay hands-off was video games. For instance, her official description on the Lucasfilm website as president doesn't note any involvement in games released over the past decade-plus (though her name does appear in credits, such as in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor). Shortly after Kennedy became Lucasfilm president, Disney and EA announced a Star Wars partnership in 2013 for console games. That agreement led to the creation of 2015's Star Wars Battlefront and 2017's Star Wars Battlefront II, with Disney calling EA a "good" partner in 2019. The two Battlefront games combined to sell 33 million copies as of late 2019. Additionally, in 2014 before those games were released, Lucasfilm stated that all games would be considered official Star Wars canon going forward.

In 2020, EA revealed its plans to "double down" on Star Wars, following the success of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order from Respawn Entertainment. The developer known for Titanfall and Apex Legends delivered a sequel in 2023 with the previously mentioned Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. However, the EA exclusivity period ended earlier this decade as Ubisoft took a crack at the Star Wars franchise with last year's launch of Star Wars Outlaws. Additionally, Bethesda (with Xbox publishing) was given the license to create the recently released Indiana Jones and the Great Circle--another major Lucasfilm franchise. Keep in mind that before Disney bought Lucasfilm, there was an internal game company named LucasArt that was shuttered after the acquisition in 2013.

In 2022, Kennedy spoke with Empire about how the Star Wars video games have influenced storytelling for the shows and films. "It's funny, the more I've got to know how games are written, and that kind of persistent storytelling that goes on in a game environment where you're just constantly building upon a single story, that's much closer to what Star Wars is," Kennedy said at the time.

Under Kennedy's reign, Lucasfilm has looked to license its properties to major publishers, who handled development of the Star Wars video games. While it's unclear exactly what her role was in the video game space, it's possible her successor would look to exert more control or could otherwise steer the future course of the franchise's gaming ambitions.

For example, DC Studios co-chiefs James Gunn and Peter Safran have sat down with leaders at NetherRealm and Rocksteady recently to discuss future games featuring their superhero universe. The duo might not be hands-on in every step of the process, but they explained how they bounce storytelling feedback off the teams since the movies and shows might already be taking a similar angle.

There are quite a few Star Wars games already announced for the coming years. Developer Quantic Dreams just clarified that Star Wars Eclipse won't be affected by the major NetEase shakeup. There is also a Star Wars strategy game in the works, alongside reports of a third entry in the Star Wars Jedi series. Meanwhile, Lucasfilm Games executive Douglas Reilly expressed interest in more Indiana Jones games at the end of last year.

One thing does seem quite certain, though. No matter what happens at the top spot for Lucasfilm, there will be more Star Wars games for years and even decades to come. But what they look like and how they're developed could change dramatically, depending on the next Lucasfilm president.