It's all change in the world of Star Wars as a new boss takes over the franchise

The people at the head of Star Wars have changed. It’s out with Kathleen Kennedy and in with the new guard — although these folks are in no sense newbies.

Dave Filoni will head up the creative side of Lucasfilm. And if you remotely keep track of the names on the credits of Star Wars content, you’ll know this guy’s name.

He has worked on The Mandalorian, Star Wars: Rebels, The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka and more. And Filoni has long been earmarked as an obvious choice to become effectively the biggest Star Wars nerd on the exec board.

Of perhaps slightly less interest to Star Wars obsessives, but equally important in the long run, Lynwen Brennan will head up the business side of Lucasfilm. She has been on the company’s exec board for years, and spent more than 15 years at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), eventually becoming its president.

Changing of the Imperial Guard

“We’ve been talking about this for two years,” Kennedy told Deadline after the shift of management was announced.

"Dave is the perfect person to transition, but he hadn’t made a movie and I worked very closely with him beginning with Rogue One to get him a feel of how live-action works. His background is animation, as he worked with George [Lucas] on Clone Wars.”

“He and Pablo Hidalgo are like the walking encyclopedias inside the company,” says Kennedy.

She has been head of Lucasfilm since 2012, a time period that includes the most recent trilogy, Rogue One and Solo: A Star Wars Story.

But there’s no denying it’s been a difficult time in Star Wars movie-making. We’ve not had a new film since 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker, which was a critical dud and is considered a box office disappointment despite making more than a billion dollars.

Kennedy has hit the ejector button just ahead of the release of Star Wars’s next movie, The Madalorian and Grogu, which hits cinemas on May 22nd. It’s not expected to be nearly as big a smash as the last batch of Star Wars movies, bar the relatively small-fry Solo: A Star Wars Story, although it was also significantly cheaper to make.

The Mandalorian and Grogu reported budget is $166 million, which is almost $100 million less than Solo: A Star Wars Story, let alone the main line entries.

Kennedy plans to go back into a more free-wheeling movie producing role, having done that job for decades before she was Lucasfilm head.

What does this change of guard mean for Star Wars? It’s going to take a while to tell, with plans up until 2027’s Star Wars: Starfighter, starring Ryan Gosling, now surely firmly rooted.

• The best Star Wars TV shows of all time

Skip the search — follow Shortlist on Google News to get our best lists, news, features and reviews at the top of your feeds!