+34
“We are moving on from the Skywalker saga”: Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy discusses the past, present, and future of StarWars for V.F.’s June issue.
But the idea that you can’t really replace Luke Skywalker, was that something you learned from that movie—or how would you put it?was one of the first ideas that came up when the company was sold. One of the first people I went to was [screenwriter]Larry and I have known each other forever.
. He was so excited to tell that story. We genuinely believed at the time it was a good idea. So yeah. There should be moments along the way when you learn things. That may have certainly been a learning moment. Some people have talked about how, well, maybeas Han Solo…it’s the same thinking. Maybe I should have recognized this before. We would never makewithout Harrison Ford. Having just finished the fifth movie, I can tell you, there wasn’t a day I wasn’t on set where I wasn’t like, Yes—Maybe I’m closer to the DNA of Indy, and always have been, than I was when I came intobecause now it does seem so abundantly clear that we can’t do that. You get excited by these things, and you want to revisit things you want. You want to have that feeling again, and you’re trying to resurrect that. I think that’s what we do even with our new characters. WithThat’s that intangible idea that you’re looking for.is about to premiere. Can you talk to me a little about Deborah Chow and where she’s taking the story? I think what Deborah’s done really effectively is she’s explored the interior life of Obi-Wan, because we find Obi-Wan at a point when he thinks he’s killed Anakin. He is at a pretty low point when we find him. He’s questioning who he is. I think she does a really great job of having him find that humanity again.… There’s so much IJ.J. created a mystery around Rey’s origin. That’s been something fans have been debating now for years.I’d heard that Obi-Wan was possibly one of the resolutions—that Rey could have been a descendant of his. I’ve heard this idea was carried along for a while, then it was put aside partly because Rian [Johnson] had a different approach, but also because Lucasfilm didn’t want to tie up Obi-Wan for a different story down the line. Is that about right? The bigger issue is talking about Obi-Wan as a Master Jedi, and the issue of attachment and selflessness. In order for Obi-Wan to have a child, you are really, really impacting the rules around the Jedi. What does that mean? If that were explored—and certainly there were a lot of ideas being thrown around—but anything to do with Obi-Wan in that regard was pretty much off the table because it flies in the face of everything George created in the mythology. We’re not rigid about it. It’s certainly open for discussion all the time. But that’s a pretty significant tenet in the mythology of the Jedi that we’d be reluctant to mess with.hasn’t started shooting yet, but that’s also on the horizon for Lucasfilm. That series is not as tied into the characters we already know, right? That one sits right on the edge of the High Republic Era. It’s a bit of an experiment for us because it isn’t building within the timeline and the era that Jon and Dave are. It isn’t necessarily going to be where features are. We are moving into a new era with what [showrunner]There are certainly reflections of things that people are going to recognize, and it will have connectivity inThe MandalorianHow important is it to get outside the gravity of the Skywalker saga, moving beyond the characters we know? How vital is it to open up those new realms?vital. Just staying within the construct of George’s storytelling, to keep chipping away at that, I think would be wrong. It’s our job to step away now, but still have a connection to the mythology that George created. That won’t stop. But we are moving on from the Skywalker saga. That’s what’s taking a lot of time, discussion, and thought right now.It is. That’s something we put into motion about five years ago because we don’t have the benefit of just pulling a book off the shelf…is going, we don’t just assume it’s only going to be on television and in movie theaters. That’s another evolution we’re having a lot of conversation around.It could. I think it’s beyond just V.R. Think of some of the things Epic Games is doing with Fortnite: the ability to immerse people in stories, building avatars around your character that could actually participate in some way. We talk so much about the movie experience being something that is a community. You get to hear people interact. You get to hear them laugh. You get to hear them cheer. Well, in the future, you’re going to have that opportunity to experience that feeling and that interaction virtually. That may not be ideal to a lot of people, but there’s no question that’s where it’s going. So what does that mean for us as storytellers? Since we work so far ahead of what the audience interacts with, we have to be thinking about these things.It’s right on the horizon. We’re already having conversations around what we’re going to experiment with [regarding] immersive technology. I know everybody kicks around the wordas a part of the metaverse a long time ago.If you can live a part of that all the time…how do we enrich that? That’s what the fans want. You want to enter this world, whatever it is that interests you, and feel that investment of time is worthwhile. Can we touch upon “storytelling classic”—the movies? I know about Taika Waititi’s untitled film written by Krysty Wilson-Cairns, and Patty Jenkins is doingWe have a road map. I would say that Taika’s story fits more specifically into that.…we kind of pushed off to the side for the moment. Patty is developing the script further. Then we will talk about how that connects to the central spine that we’re working on. There’s a couple of [filmmakers] that we’ve been in conversation with over quite a long period of time that I’m hoping will come in and make the overall commitment that Jon and Dave have made. That’s ideally what I would love to see happen in the feature space. Are you talking about a commitment to make, say, three movies, or are you talking about an even bigger commitment of shepherding phases of films in the way that Kevin Feige did with Marvel? I wouldn’t go so far. Kevin is an anomaly—an amazing one. But [the goal is] definitely having somebody make more of a commitment. I hesitate to use the word trilogies anymore becauseOne of the enduring questions that the fans have is about Rian Johnson and his future withIs there anything you can tell me about that? I know it’s been said that that trilogy is still on. But it’s been so many years since it was announced. Is that still the case? Can we resolve what’s going on with his idea?
Scratch the next story
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News: You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Lucasfilm Vows Not to Recast Iconic ‘Star Wars’ Characters After ‘Solo’ Flop: ‘We Can’t Do That’Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy says 'Solo' flopping hard taught the company not to cast new actors as iconic StarWars characters: 'It does seem so abundantly clear that we can’t do that.'
Read more »
Star Wars: Franchise Is 'Moving On' From Skywalker Saga and Into New EraIt's no surprise to Star Wars fans that the feature films from that galaxy far, far away are [...]
Read more »
Kathleen Kennedy Reveals The Lesson Learned In Her ‘Star Wars’ Filmmaking ExperiencesLucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy has been around Hollywood a long time. But she’s still learning. Speaking to Vanity Fair’s Anthony Breznican, she admitted that the 2018 Solo film, …
Read more »
Encalife Ambience Galaxy and Star Projector reviewThe Encalife Ambience Galaxy & Star Projector, where star projector meets Bluetooth speaker.
Read more »
Star Wars: Ewan McGregor Reveals Surprising Episode II Fact Ahead of Obi-Wan KenobiThis week marked 20 years since Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones hit theatres, [...]
Read more »