It’s another day, so you know what that means: another rumor about Kathleen Kennedy stepping down from Disney and Lucasfilm.
What is the latest rumor?
The latest claim is from Jeff Sneider, who says Kathleen Kennedy is stepping down as president of Lucasfilm in August.
Kathleen Kennedy addressed rumors at Star Wars Celebration
Maybe Sneider didn’t get the memo, but worth a mention is that Kathleen Kennedy just addressed rumors of her exit at Star Wars Celebration Japan over the weekend.
At a press event, she specifically said, “I’m not retired. I’m not going anywhere.”
Screen Rant was on hand and questioned Kathleen Kennedy about the gap between internal studio discussions and what’s shared with fans, with Kennedy insisting she always tells the truth.
Regarding Star Wars Celebration, Kennedy was a big part of the event and appeared on stage for The Mandalorian & Grogu.
Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy joins us on the #StarWarsCelebration LIVE! stage: https://t.co/lIHnmSsarc pic.twitter.com/0jg5HiLHmQ
— Star Wars (@starwars) April 18, 2025
Supposed to be leaving by the end of the year
Back in February, the reports first started surfacing that she is retiring by year’s end from Lucasfilm and Star Wars.
However, Kennedy was quick to respond to the claim at the time stating she will leave on her own accord:
What’s happening at Lucasfilm is I have been talking for quite some time with both Bob and Alan about what eventual succession might look like. We have an amazing bench of people here, and we have every intention of making an announcement months or a year down the road. We are in lockstep as to what that’s going to be… looking very thoughtfully with Bob and Alan as to who’s stepping in.
She added in an answer to another question:
We’ll probably make an announcement months or a year out
Those reports also claimed the announcement of her exit would come at Star Wars Celebration Japan, but we see just the opposite happened, that Kathleen Kennedy said she is not retired and is not going anywhere. We’ll see.
