Now that tthe Skywalker saga is over what exactly is a war of stars Movie? It’s a question Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy has been deal with every day for years. Things are purring along pretty smoothly on the streaming side. But in the theater? Much less, and Kennedy believes it’s largely because these things take more time than many people are willing to invest.
“With Jon Favreau and the TV side, we’re very fortunate that he’s made a long-term commitment,” Kennedy said in one in-depth interview with Vanity Fair. “I would love to find someone on the features side who is so committed to the long term. There are a couple of people that I’m pretty close to that we might be able to reach out to, but it’s such a competitive environment right now that availability, exclusivity, those kinds of ideas [make it] hard.”
Currently, the next war of stars Movie on the release schedule is rogue squadron by director Patty Jenkins. But Kennedy makes it very clear the special Film does not fit where they and others see the future War of stars, and will not be what comes next.
“We have a timetable,” she said. “I would say that Taika [Waititi]’s story fits this more closely. rogue squadron … We sort of pushed each other aside for the moment. Patty continues to develop the script. Then we’re going to talk about how that connects to the central spine that we’re working on. There are a few [filmmakers] who we’ve been talking to for quite some time and who I hope will come in and make the general commitment that Jon and Dave have [Filoni] made. That is ideally what I would like to see in feature film.”
It seems Kennedy is looking for a filmmaker who will dive deep and genuinely care about the franchise. One person who might have been that was Rian Johnson, who Kennedy says is the perfect example of this problem she finds.
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“Rian has been incredibly busy with knife out and the deal he got on Netflix for several films,” she said. “I had meetings with Rian; he’s someone who came in as part of our little brain trust discussions along the way. He remains very committed to what we are trying to do. He just literally didn’t have the time to devote himself. That’s what I say: ano one coming into the war of stars The universe needs to know this is a three, four, five year commitment. That’s what it takes. You can’t jump in and shoot something for a year and then walk away. It just doesn’t work that way. So it needs that kind of care.”
It’s the kind of grooming that wasn’t there with the sequel trilogy, with JJ Abrams and Rian Johnson swapping ideas back and forth between films. One of those ideas was Rey’s origins, and Kennedy stated that while there are many possibilities as to who the character’s parents could be were discussed, one popular rumor never surfaced: Obi-Wan Kenobi.
“The bigger problem is talking about Obi-Wan as a Master Jedi and the issue of attachment and selflessness,” Kennedy said. “In order for Obi-Wan to have a child, you really, really mess with the rules around the Jedi. What does that mean? When that was examined – and certainly there were a lot of ideas 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 in mythology has created. We are not rigid there. It’s certainly open to discussion all the time. But that’s a pretty important tenet in Jedi mythology that we’d be reluctant to mess with.”
Kennedy seems friendly to get in trouble with war of stars as a whole though. She specifically said that “we continue from the Skywalker saga. This is what is taking up a lot of time, discussion and thought right now,‘ and regards a project in particular as a good target post of what is possible.
“[The Acolyte] is a bit of an experiment for us because it’s not set within the timeline and era of Jon and Dave,” Kennedy said. “It’s not necessarily going to be where features are. We’re entering a new era [showrunner] Leslye Headland does.” She admits that publishing, such as The High Republic Books The Acolyte will rework, are a testing ground for which stories really appeal to fans. But also admits that traditional outlets may not be the only place where fans are crucial war of stars stories in the future.
“If we look at where war of stars we don’t expect it to only be on TV and in theaters,” she said. “That’s another development that we talk a lot about.” Go to Vanity Fair to read more of Kennedy’s conversation, talk underneath Obi Wan KenobiMain character rewrites and more.
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