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So it is official. After nearly 14 years as President of Lucasfilm, Kathleen Kennedy has stepped down. Nope, not bait this time. Dave Filoni is taking over.
In the Deadline interview, KK reiterates that she wouldn't change anything:
But does anybody care anymore? This isn't even a twinkle in culture war discourse, KiA's response was total indifference. Despite Iger's comments a few years ago saying that "creators at Disney should entertain first, message second", I haven't seen them walk the walk. Within Star Wars itself, what immediately followed those statements was the wokest Star Wars to date, which got cancelled just one month after the finale aired due to low viewership.
While everyone was memeing about where the bodies were buried, how does anybody even expect to fix the IP at this point? Every year since Rise of Skywalker, they've been dropping a new season of a new live action show like candies. Star Wars ceased to be an "event" anymore. Sequel merchandise don't sell as well as the classics. But does it mean Star Wars is dead in the water? Probably not, Andor season 2 debuted with record viewership numbers. I guess, Star Wars fans are still more forgiving than most people think! Even if the IP may not be as bulletproof as it was during the Clone Wars era. I don't see the "Force is Female" direction being reversed for sure.
The king is dead, long live the king.
If you were turned off by The Force Awakens (which, contrary to what Kennedy says, was disliked for being too much like the OT), it's been a decade. If Last Jedi killed your fandom it's been 8 years. I don't know how you can sustain constant hope and disappointment with an IP this long. I tapped out mentally in-theatre with TLJ. Every time I wanted to jump back in because they seem to have figured it out (e.g. when the reviews for Mandalorian were good) they quickly reverted to form.
Whoever is still with it is the new audience and they've made their peace with Kennedy or like her content. The mega-haters who were praying on Kennedy's downfall have to have tapped out. I skimmed the channels of some of the usual suspects and the comments are basically fatalist. In part because they seem to hate Filoni too for some reason, but also because the game of wishing her gone has gone on too long to be amusing.
Look at what you just said: Star Wars ushered in the blockbuster era! Even the Prequels maintained a $650 million floor. And we're all coping that one TV show out of all the material produced did well on TV.
Filoni is a creatively middling hack, he only looks good because he’s been standing next to Kennedy for the last ten years, and at least he doesn’t despise the source material he’s working with.
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