I’m being told — albeit by a single source — that Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau are tipped to replace Kathleen Kennedy as head of LucasFilm. A formal announcement could happen at Star Wars Celebration in April.
Again, this comes from a single source, but a very reliable one, and it does make a lot of sense to have both of them take over this sinking ship. Filoni and Favreau have been one of the very few creatives to crack the post-Lucas curse with their respective shows.
Filoni is currently serving as CCO of LucasFilm. After directing episodes of “Avatar: The Last Airbender” he was tasked by George Lucas to oversee the television series — and then film version — “Star Wars: Clone Wars.” Filoni is the creator, executive producer and writer of live-action miniseries “Ahsoka,” and was executive producer on “The Mandalorian,” “The Book of Boba Fett,” and “Skeleton Crew.”
Favreau, a favourite over at Disney and LucasFilm, started off directing such films as “Elf,” “Iron Man” and “Chef” before venturing into “Star Wars” content this last decade. Favreau is known for creating the highly successful Disney+ series “The Mandalorian,” which Filoni helped develop. Alongside Filoni, he’s executive produced every ‘Mandalorian’ spinoff, including “Skeleton Crew” and “The Book of Boba Fett.”
There hasn’t been a ‘Star Wars’ movie released since 2019’s ‘Rise of the Skywalker.’ That will change next year when Favreau’s ‘Mandalorian & Grogu’ hits theaters in May 2026.
For the last six years, we’ve had numerous Star Wars projects announced, with many of them stalling or outright canned. It looked like Kennedy had lost control of the creative process. At least she got Favreau’s movie greenlit and shot; otherwise, it’s been a very dire decade.
There are currently nine ‘Star Wars’ movies in development, from directors Simon Kinberg, James Mangold, Sharmeen Obaid-Chimoy, Dave Filoni, Donald Glover, Shawn Levy, Taika Waititi, Rian Johnson and Patty Jenkins.
UPDATE: THR also has a source telling them that Filoni has the job and an announcement will come during April’s Star Wars celebration event. Will Favreau join him?