Of the five “Star Wars” films that have been made since Lucasfilm was taken over by Disney, only 4 directors have been credited (Ron Howard, JJ Abrams, Rian Johnson, and Gareth Edwards). However, when you look at the filmmakers that have been associated with “Star Wars” films, there are 5 more names that could be added to the list of directors brought on by Kathleen Kennedy but didn’t get credit for one reason or another (Phil Lord, Chris Miller, Josh Trank, Colin Trevorrow, and Tony Gilroy). Needless to say, Kennedy doesn’t have a very consistent track record with “Star Wars” filmmakers.
But it appears that this is something that she’s hoping to change in the future, as Lucasfilm moves past the Skywalker Saga and forges a new path in the lore of “Star Wars.” And how is Lucasfilm president, Kathleen Kennedy, going to avoid the turnover of previous films? Well, according to a profile in the LA Times, she is working with at least one new filmmaker, Dave Filoni, and developing him from the ground up to be quality “Star Wars” director.
According to the report, Kennedy and Filoni talked about his desire to direct live-action “Star Wars,” after being one of the most respected storytellers on the animation side of the business. So, the Lucasfilm boss developed a program that allowed Filoni to “shadow” other filmmakers such as Rian Johnson and JJ Abrams in hopes that he’d learn the ins and outs of live-action “Star Wars” storytelling.
“I think it says a lot about how she looks at a long game and works patiently to achieve goals and find success, not just for the projects, but for people as well,” said Filoni.
And it would appear that the grooming of Filoni (who is also rumored to be part of a group of creators that Kennedy will be leaning on more in the future) has extended past shadowing. He already has some live-action directing credits under his belt thanks to his work as a producer and helmer of a couple of episodes of “The Mandalorian” on Disney+.
Does this mean that Filoni is going to helm a full “Star Wars” film in the future? It would appear that this is the end goal. But as of now, Kennedy is being tight-lipped about who she’ll hire to shepherd “Star Wars” into the post-Skywalker future.