A funny little green guy once stated “Impossible to see the future is.” For Star Wars fans this rings very true right now. We know The Mandalorian season 2 hits in October. We know of roughly half a dozen projects in the works for Disney+, and an as yet unnamed film aims for a 2023 release despite not having a director announced yet. Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy recently sat down with The Wrap to talk about the future direction of Star Wars.

President Kathleen Kennedy

Future Direction of Star Wars: Complete Your Training

Kennedy opened talking about why Disney started the way they did, with something old instead of a whole direction.

“…when I personally came into this, George had already been having conversations with his previous actors, Carrie (Fisher) and Harrison (Ford) and Mark (Hamill) — there was a saga that the fans loved and he never finished. He always talked about doing nine movies and he was ready to complete that. And so our focus had been from the beginning on finishing that saga.”

Kathleen Kennedy

As much as a problem as the sequel movies caused with fans, this is perhaps a good thing. If they screw up on known products, they will be able to correct when they branch out into new territory. Starting with new products may have driven off all support. She talked about this next step and why they needed to plan:

“And now we’re stepping back. Stories have been told within this universe over the last 40-odd years, and there’s now the realization that this is a mythology that actually spans about 25,000 years, when you really start to look at all the different stories that have been told, whether it’s in books and games.”

Kathleen Kennedy

Future Direction of Star Wars: Making the Pieces Fit

The future stands wide open now. It would be wise to see what pieces fit in today’s world and also who will do it! You cannot make a mystery story if you do not have a mystery-focused director wanting to do it. She follows with this:

“We just need the time to step back and really absorb what George has created, and then start to think about where things might go,” the executive pointed out. “That’s what we’ve been doing, and we’ve been having a great deal of fun doing it, and meeting with lots of different filmmakers and talent. There’s so many fans out there and so many filmmakers that have been influenced by Star Wars for so long that it’s a fantastic opportunity to get a sense of who wants to be a part of this. So that’s what we’ve been doing.”

Kathleen Kennedy

With the addition of Disney+ as an added format for telling Star Wars stories, she expressed her support:

“I do. And I’ve already seen evidence of it. The ability to be very character-driven, with extended storytelling and connected storytelling, I think this space offers us a great opportunity to do that.”

Kathleen Kennedy

We hope they learned a lot with the first five films they turned out. Picking the right people for the job is crucial. They need to follow not only the plan, but the mission. If in a team project, they need to follow cues. If working alone their ideas need to line up with what Kennedy wants. While I know I am in the minority, with all the troubles they had, they only truly missed on one film (Rise of Skywalker). Going forward let’s hope we get better product with fewer ‘complications.’