Kathleen Kennedy Receives Tons Of Praise From Popular Star Wars Filmmaker
Kathleen Kennedy, who seemed like she might be on the ropes in the Star Wars universe just was handed a ton of praise by a director
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For some time it looked like there were teams forming within the Star Wars franchise, factions between the creative teams which included Kathleen Kennedy that were possibly opposed with each other in terms of vision and future plans. But recent comments by some of the main players in the Star Wars franchise as well as the word of future contract extensions might be starting to dispel what some saw as growing tensions. Recently, in a documentary about the making of The Mandalorian’s Season Two in a Disney Gallery, Jon Favreau heaped a ton of praise on Kathleen Kennedy for her role in bringing the show to life. It is just another example that the Star Wars group might be more unified than previously thought.
In the documentary, Jon Favreau had a number of different things to say about Kathleen Kennedy and what she brought to the process for The Mandalorian. From what he had to say, it would appear she was instrumental in both the production and the creative vision, bringing in a level of expertise on the production side that was in line with her role as the head of LucasFilms. It makes sense that they would be working closely together on these series and that she would have a hand in how things play out for the franchise. Here is part of what Favreau had to say about Kathleen Kennedy:
“…we’re very lucky that between Lucasfilm and Kathy, the whole group that we have are incredibly supportive and encouraging…Kathy Kennedy, we brought in very early on this conversation. And Kathy, first and foremost, is a great producer. And producers figure out ways to make things happen that are creatively exciting to the storytellers.”
The reason these words ring out from Jon Favreau regarding Kathleen Kennedy is that it had seemed like there was growing animosity at the studio level around the future path and vision for the Star Wars franchise. On the one side, you have Kathleen Kennedy who helms LucasFilms and was instrumental in bringing the sequel trilogy to the big screen over the last decade. But some saw that set of movies as something of a disappointment with a disjointed narrative over the course of the films with slightly diminishing box office returns as they got to the end. This, combined with the flop that was Solo, had some believing that Kennedy might be on the ropes.
Additionally, in the wake of the Kathleen Kennedy-led Star Wars films, another set of stories was cropping up on Disney+. That was led by Jon Favreau when The Mandalorian hit the small streaming screen. He along with Dave Filoni seemed to be taking the Star Wars franchiƒcontrase in a totally different direction with new shows and series that explored stories within the original canon of films. There was even talk of retconning or fully erasing the Kennedy sequel trilogy from the arc because of how little sense it made.
That appears to not be the case based on the most recent comments by Favreau and all signs would begin to point towards a good working relationship on that front. Plus, there have been rumors lately that Kathleen Kennedy is gearing up to sign a contract extension with the studio this fall. If/ when that goes down, her place among the creative upper-ranks would be cemented in stone.
With tons of new projects coming down the pike in the Star Wars universe and especially considering some of the success they’ve had recently with newer stories, it does seem to make sense to maintain consistency among the creative types and producers. That looks to be the case with Kathleen Kennedy.
