Lucasfilm may see the end of one of the worst leaders it's ever had as it's been announced that "the force is female" Kathleen Kennedy is leaving Lucasfilm after she brought absolute destruction to every brand under that umbrella. 

According to Puck, Kathleen reportedly turned in her resignation notice, ending her 13-year run as head of Lucasfilm at the end of the year: 

After years of speculation, and polite urging from observers like me, Kathleen Kennedy has informed Disney, as well as friends and associates, that she will exit as Lucasfilm president by the end of the year, per three sources. Disney and Kennedy’s personal publicist declined to comment.

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Kennedy has been telegraphing her exit lately, selling her and husband Frank Marshall’s Malibu house, offloading art, and talking to friends about working with Frank more. She’s also been collecting career honors from everyone from the Austin Film Festival to the American Society of Cinematographers to this week’s Oscar Wilde Awards in L.A. Departing this year will allow a successor to handle the 2026 release of The Mandalorian and Grogu, the first Star Wars movie since 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker. This year she’s got only the second season of Andor, which will likely be an Emmy contender (the trailer looks good), and some kids’ stuff on Disney+.

These rumors have been circulating for some time, and while it's still not wholly confirmed, as Puck notes, the reports are likely true. 

I've made it no secret that I absolutely despise Kennedy's handling of the brands that made up the backbone of much of American pop-culture, especially Star Wars, which Kennedy turned into her own personal hyper-feminist self-insert. Her inability to tell good stories without injecting political messaging caused the series to plummet in popularity and played a large part in making Disney into a laughingstock. 

As I wrote previously, Star Wars used to be a brand that anyone could enjoy and many did globally, but Kennedy attempted to make it appeal to a specific group of people, namely ideologically rigid women, and it crashed the brand. 

(READ: Star Wars Was Better When the Force Wasn't Female)

Things got so bad that Kennedy's incompetence began to look an awful lot like intention, and one can't help but theorize that Kennedy was ruining these brands on purpose after rumors surfaced that Steven Spielberg and George Lucas actually had little respect for her. There were also moments where Spielberg would openly criticize her story making talent... and then there was that one time he seems to have purposefully humiliated her on stage. 

These are, of course, just theories, but the fact that they're circulating with high degrees of believability is proof that Kennedy's handling of Lucasfilm was so awful that it's hard to imagine it being accidental. Especially since she'd been doing it for 13 years. 

It's unclear who will take over for Kennedy once she's gone, but I imagine Dave Filoni may be a frontrunner. Filoni is responsible for the television side of Star Wars, though this might not be great news for many Star Wars fans. Perhaps a Kennedy-free Star Wars will allow Filoni to write as he pleases, as his entries haven't been stellar as of late. 

Another possible contender is Jon Favreau who absolutely does have filmmaking experience, as well as television savvy. He is responsible for the disastrous third season of The Mandalorian, however. 

It's all speculation for now, but the fact that Kennedy's shadow may be withdrawing from the brand could change things in a big way overall. Time will tell.