Star Wars legend Kathleen Kennedy ‘expected to retire’ later this year

Producer has been instrumental in shaping the franchise for more than a decade

Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy is set to step down from her role as overseer of the Star Wars franchise, according to new reports.

Kennedy joined the production company, which was founded by Star Wars creator George Lucas, in 2012 in the role of co-chair, alongside director Lucas.

Just a few months later, Lucas sold the company to Disney for $4bn and Kennedy was promoted to the role of president.

But film industry newsletter Puck reported on Monday (24 February) that Kennedy, 71, has told colleagues that she will retire by the end of 2025.

The Independent has contacted Lucasfilm for further comment.

The producer, who previously worked with Steven Spielberg on films including ET, Jurassic Park and Schindler’s List, oversaw the relaunch of the Star Wars franchise, kicking off with the release of seventh movie The Force Awakens in 2015.

Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy has helmed the company for more than 12 years (Getty Images for Disney)

The Force Awakens, directed by JJ Abrams was a huge box office success, grossing more than $2bn around the world, and also received a generally positive response from the film series’ legions of fans.

Disney went on to rapidly expand the franchise, releasing one film a year until 2019, including spin-off movies such as 2016’s Rogue One and 2018’s Solo, as well as Star Wars TV shows including The Mandalorian.

Kennedy became president of Lucasfilm after George Lucas sold the company to Disney (Getty Images for Disney)

However, Kennedy’s tenure at Lucasfilm was not entirely straightforward. Both Rogue One and Solo had complex journeys to the big screen, with the former reportedly requiring extensive reshoots.

Kennedy also fired Solo’s original directors Chris Miller and Phil Lord while the Han Solo origin story movie was in production, eventually replacing him with Ron Howard.

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As the franchise quickly grew, with the arrival of a slew of streaming spin-offs, some Star Wars fans seemed concerned that this speedy expansion was diluting the magic of the galaxy far, far away.

(Getty Images for Disney)

Various other projects, including a film trilogy from Game of Thrones screenwriters David Benioff and DB Weiss and another from The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson, failed to materialise.

The next Star Wars movie will be The Mandalorian and Grogu, which will debut in May 2026, marking the franchise’s first big screen release since The Rise of Skywalker, the concluding part of the reboot trilogy, arrived in December 2019.