On January 15, 2026, Lucasfilm formally announced that Kathleen Kennedy is "stepping down" as president of the company. Dave Filoni will take on the role of President and Chief Creative Officer. Lynwen Brennan, who for the past two years has held the title of "President & General Manager, Lucasfilm Business" alongside Kennedy, will continue in that role as "Co-President" with Filoni.

On this episode of Hyperspace Theories, recorded days later, Tricia Barr and B.J. Priester discuss the implications of this long-anticipated transition in the highest levels of Lucasfilm's leadership. We begin with a brief recap of the other Star Wars news stories in the preceding ten days, which had implicitly suggested that a major change would be imminent. We then unpack the press release from Lucasfilm, and what it represents as an official communication from a division of a publicly traded multi-national corporation. Next, we consider the additional information provided by source journalistic reporting from the major Hollywood trade publications – Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and The Wrap – as well as Matthew Belloni at Puck, who has consistently broken accurate stories about the extended leadership succession process at Lucasfilm. Then we examine the further remarks from Kennedy herself, provided in an "exit interview" she conducted with Deadline, another longstanding Hollywood publication. Finally, we end this episode of the podcast with our brief predictions about the likely future announcements from the new leadership team about the projects they have underway for the future of Star Wars.

Media Coverage Links:

• Lucasfilm and the Walt Disney Studios Announce Leadership Transition (StarWars.com; Jan. 15, 2026)
• Lucasfilm Replacing Kathleen Kennedy With Dave Filoni, Lynwen Brennan as New 'Star Wars' Bosses (Brett Lang, Variety; Jan. 15, 2026)
• Star Wars Shake-Up: Kathleen Kennedy Steps Down as George Lucas Protégé Dave Filoni, Exec Lynwen Brennan Take Over Lucasfilm (Aaron Couch & Borys Kit, The Hollywood Reporter; Jan. 15, 2026)
• A Shift In The Force For Lucasfilm's Kathleen Kennedy: The Exit Interview (Mike Fleming Jr., Deadline; Jan. 15, 2026)
• Kathleen Kennedy's Final Episode (Matthew Belloni, Puck; Jan. 16, 2026)
• Kathleen Kennedy's Lucasfilm Legacy: A Galaxy in Disarray | Analysis (Drew Taylor, The Wrap; Jan. 16, 2026)
• Star Wars Has New Hope (and Some Growing Pains) in Its Future (Richard Newby, The Hollywood Reporter; Jan. 16, 2026)
• 20 Surefire, 100 Percent Probable Hollywood Predictions for 2026 (Part One) (Matthew Belloni, Puck; Jan. 6, 2026)
• Kathleen Kennedy to Step Down at Lucasfilm (Matthew Belloni, Puck; Feb. 5, 2025)

FANgirl Blog Links:

• Star Wars Celebration Japan 2025: Perspective and Takeaways (May 2025)
• Hyperspace Theories: The Curious Case of Kathleen Kennedy's Retirement (Mar. 2025)
• Ten Years of Hyperspace Theories (Oct. 2024)
• Lessons in Franchise Management – MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios (Jan. 2024)
• Hyperspace Theories: Starting 2024 with the Future of Star Wars (Jan. 2024)
• The Stories Told By White Men Rise to the Top at the Lucasfilm Showcase: Star Wars Celebration Anaheim 2022 (June 2022)
• The Failures of The Rise of Skywalker, Part 6 (Jan. 2020)
• Comparing Two Fresh Starts: Captain Marvel and Star Wars (July 2019)
• Star Wars Celebration 2019: The Franchise Talking Points (May 2019)
• We've Been Here Before: Parallels in the Public Narrative on the State of Star Wars (June 2018)
• Rey At Risk Revisited: The Danger Signs From The Last Jedi (Feb. 2018)
• Skywalker At Risk: Serial Storytelling and Brand Value (Feb. 2018)

Social Media:

• Tricia Barr (@fangirlcantina) Instagram | Threads | Blue Sky
• B.J. Priester (@redpenoflex) Instagram | Threads | Blue Sky
• Fangirl Zone on Facebook