'These Jobs Are Not Easy': Ex-Star Wars Boss Kathleen Kennedy Admits 'Relief' After Leaving Lucasfilm, Following Turbulent 14-Year Tenure

Lucasfilm veteran Kathleen Kennedy has admitted she feels "a bit of relief" after stepping down from her role as the boss of Star Wars, following a long and often tumultuous run.

Kennedy took Lucasfilm's helm in 2002 directly from Star Wars creator George Lucas, and oversaw the studio as it was sold to Disney, produced a new trilogy of mainline movies, and expanded its storytelling via an array of series on Disney+.

Some of these projects have been hugely successful, such as early seasons of The Mandalorian and the critically-acclaimed Andor. And while the Star Wars sequel movies ended in a firestorm of fan backlash and disappointment, they still raked in billions of dollars.

At the same time, numerous Star Wars projects have flopped hard — or simply failed to get off the ground. Solo was a commercial disaster and also messy behind the scenes, as acclaimed directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller (The Lego Movie, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) …