Lucasfilm Boss Kathleen Kennedy Says It's 'Troubling and Frustrating' That Star Wars Movie Development Is Scrutinized So Much

Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy has called the scrutiny Star Wars movie development comes under “troubling and frustrating,” while revealing how many projects she's confident will come to fruition.

In November, Lucasfilm owner Disney announced yet another trilogy of Star Wars films was in the works, and some fans said they were getting a bit sick of perpetual announcements with no releases in the legendary sci-fi franchise.

Disney hasn’t released a Star Wars film since the universally panned Star Wars: Episode 9 - The Rise of Skywalker in 2019, but it has cancelled several films in that time, such as one from Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige and another trilogy from Game of Thrones showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff. In November, a Star Wars movie that had previously staked out a late 2026 release date was pulled from Disney's calendar.

At 2023's Star Wars Celebration, Lucasfilm announced three new Star Wars feature films: a Dave Filoni-directed New Republic film set in his Mando-verse, a Dawn of the Jedi movie led by James Mangold, and a New Jedi Order feature directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy that's set to have Daisy Ridley reprise her role as Rey after the events of The Rise of Skywalker.

That Obaid-Chinoy project has gone through several changes, with screenwriter Steven Knight recently departing after taking over for Damon Lindelof and Justin Britt-Gibson. Still, Rey as a character is still apparently a major priority for Disney moving forward, with a recent THR report saying that she's set to appear in several upcoming Star Wars films.

And, believe it or not, that's not even all Disney has on the Star Wars docket moving forward. It was revealed late last year that X-Men producer Simon Kinberg is set to write a new trilogy that isn't, contrary to initial reports, a continuation of the Skywalker Saga.

Also announced is a film from Thor Ragnarok and Love and Thunder director Taika Waititi, one from Deadpool & Wolverine director Shawn Levy, an entire trilogy from Star Wars: Episode 8 - The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson, a Donald Glover-starring Lando Calrissian film, and another from Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins. The Mandalorian & Grogu is the only Star Wars movie with a release date: May 2026.

Speaking to Deadline (to which she addressed recent retirement reports), Kennedy responded to a question about the challenge of dealing with so much public scrutiny by Star Wars fans.

“What’s troubling and frustrating is that our development gets scrutinized, and I don’t know any other production company where their development gets scrutinized like that,” Kennedy replied.

“It’s very hard for anything to happen within Star Wars without some aspect of it becoming public before you even want it to become public. So I guess managing the message in some way is also quite a challenge because, of course, not every single thing we put in development we [are] going to make. That’s not unusual. We want to make those things that we feel are the best. We want to make those things that, as time passes, feel relevant to what the audience is responding to. So there’s constant discussion around that. So yeah, that’s a tricky one because a lot of the scrutiny around Star Wars and the negativity has been about development. Of course, we’re going to develop lots of different things with an understanding that not everything gets made.”

So how many in-development Star Wars projects will actually end up as something? Kennedy said there are three or four right now that she’s confident will end up coming to fruition.

Kinberg’s trilogy “has gone exceptionally well,” Kennedy said. “We’re really excited about where that’s headed.” Shawn Levy is working on a script for his Star Wars film. There is of course The Mandalorian & Grogu, due out next year. Kennedy is waiting for Mangold after a delay due to his work on the Bob Dylan movie, A Compete Unknown, and the awards season. Similarly, Kennedy said she’s still waiting for Taika Waititi, saying “if we ever do get a script from Taika, it’s going to be fantastic.”

Kennedy said part of the challenge is that Lucasfilm is having to wait for "top talent" as they juggle their busy schedules. Star Wars, she insisted, is a major commitment of two to three years, and there can be no competing work going on during that time. So, she said, it's hard to get talent to carve out that sort of time.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.