The Fans vs. Kathleen Kennedy: A Star Wars Saga

For the most intense and die-hard Star Wars fans, there is one name that represents more evil than Palpatine himself carries in his horrible heart: Kathleen Kennedy, President of Lucasfilm. 

And now that she’s supposedly stepping down at the end of the year from the position she’s held for a dozen years, fans are celebrating all over the Internet. YouTubers, media personalities (hello, Ben Shapiro), and everyone who literally loves George Lucas’s creation, are not only happy about Kennedy’s departure, but have also taken to remembering what they consider to be the worst thing to happen to the franchise… Probably since 1978’s The Star Wars Holiday Special. That’s how bad they consider Kennedy’s work to have been. But, let’s be real, does it even matter what a bunch of  nerds and geeks think in the midst of something as huge and successful as Star Wars? Tricky question. Why?

Not a fan favorite

Here we hit a real granite wall and a massive, fundamental problem that Kathleen Kennedy has had to deal with since becoming head of Lucasfilm in October 2012: Star Wars fans.

Since I am part of this group of people, I dare say that something like 99 percent of the most devoted Star Wars fans are really intense and they feel, I mean FEEL, Star Wars as something intimate, incredibly important and almost sacred, and not just a franchise of movies, series, books, video games, toys, clothing, and everything else that the empire has marketed, packaged and sold based on the Skywalker family saga. We’re talking about an insane amount of people around the world who basically believe and feel that Star Wars belongs to them… and not to that Kathleen Kennedy character. 

And it’s those extreme fans who believe the Jedi are a real religion and that the Force really exists and that… You get the idea, they’re the ones who have paid billions of dollars since 1977 and are the ones keeping Star Wars alive. And if they don’t like the work and decisions of the leader of Lucasfilm, well, that’s a huge problem.

Tthose fans—critics included—have created a chain of negativity ever since this woman took office. Basically, according to this majority, she’s failed at everything she’s tried to do to expand the franchise. And now Star Wars is at a crossroads where every one expects every product that comes out to be crap and not live up to fans’ expectations, or worse, that both new series and films are an insult to Lucas’ larger than life universe—which is a mortal sin worthy of the Inquisition. But…is this real? If so, what did Kennedy do wrong? And if not, what the hell is wrong with the fans?

Argument #1: KK’s legacy

For this one, we’re going to take a look at everything Star Wars-related that has come out of Lucasfilm since Kathleen Kennedy arrived—that is, since Lucas sold his company to Disney. It’s a  truly broad portfolio.

In terms of films, we have: Star Wars: The Force Awakens; Rogue One: A Star Wars Story; Star Wars: The Last Jedi; Solo: A Star Wars Story; and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

Okay, I know many are thinking: the trilogy of episodes 7, 8, and 9 sucks. Yes, it’s terrible. And I think the reason it’s bad is simple: they wanted to make something appealing to old-school fans but also hook the new generations. But this is impossible. The proof of this is very obvious: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Solo: A Star Wars Story. Let’s go with Rogue One: this is the best film in the entire saga after The Empire Strikes Back. Any objections? I imagine not. 

Rogue is the only “serious” film in the saga; it’s also the only one that presents us with something the others ignore: this is supposed to be about WAR. It’s a war movie, presenting the real consequences of the fight for freedom, with solid characters, extreme situations, and moving away from fables to show us heroes we can empathize with and decisions that transcend personal interests. Yet somehow it still doesn’t receive the respect from fans as the great cinematic work it is. Meanwhile, the Han Solo film bogged down in controversies over director changes. But it’s a very good film that revitalizes the past of many of the characters we love. No, it’s not perfect… It’s fun, it makes sense, it’s not a mockery of the original characters; it honors them. But it didn’t receive the fans’ approval either.

As for live-action series, you have: The Mandalorian; The Book of Boba Fett; Obi-Wan Kenobi; Andor; Ahsoka; The Acolyte; and Star Wars: Skeleton Crew.

Series are another trauma for fans. Andor stands out here. The least-watched Star Wars series… but the best. No, there are no Jedi, nor lightsaber fights: like its sequel (Rogue One), this is a series about war and the challenges of forming a rebel alliance. Andor is by far the best of all.  But let’s move on, and we enter the world of the Mandalorians. The Mandalorian is or was very good… until they killed the suspense and the plot automatically came to a dead end. The Mandalorian should have ended in the second season. Because after that, and although I love Bo-Kattan, it’s no longer the Mando and Grogu series, so that makes it lose all meaning.

The Boba Fett series was going well until Mando and Grogu took over. And there are two series that were a waste: Ahsoka season 1, which they should have called Rebels live-action, since there’s much more to Rebels than to the character we were all hoping to see: Ahsoka. And Kenobi was a creative failure of epic proportions. They could have done anything and everything with this series. And yes, the final fight between Vader and Obi-Wan was something that pleased many fans; the rest made no sense at all. 

Before getting into the series that has caused more controversy than Bill Clinton’s scandals, we have to take our hats off and applaud Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. Another fun gem, rich in adventure; Goonies and Stranger Things in a galaxy far, far away. But fans barely watched it.

And here’s the controversy: the series that supposedly ended Star Wars and Kathleen Kennedy: The Acolyte. It’s incredible, and even sad, that in a world like this one we live in, amidst endless problems, that people have thrown so many hours, data, and insults have  to… a simple series… But that’s how Star Wars fans are. When they want to destroy something, they go all out. But The Acolyte deserved it all.   I consider this show not only bad, but absurdly bad. 

And I’ll just point out one moment that took place in some episode, but for me, it sums up the creators’ ignorance: A Jedi master stands in front of a guy with a red lightsaber who has just killed a bunch of Jedi. The Jedi master looks at the red lightsaber and tells him that it’s a Jedi’s weapon, but that he’s not a Jedi. Things are going badly up to that point, since the Jedi master SHOULD have felt the Dark Side of the Force. However, he asks the guy what he is, and the guy replies, “I’m what you’d call a Sith.” I was at home screaming, “How the hell do you not know he’s a Sith!” They never should have made this show..

As for the animated series, they’re all good: Star Wars: The Clone Wars; Star Wars Rebels; Star Wars; Star Wars: The Bad Batch; Star Wars: Visions; Star Wars: Tales; and Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures. As are the fun and fresh Lego animated series: Lego Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles; Lego Star Wars: Droid Tales; Lego Star Wars: The Resistance Rises; Lego Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures; Lego Star Wars: All-Stars; and Lego Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy. There’s no waste here. They’re all worth it.

I’ll close this first argument with something that indicates the feeling, the point of view, and what Star Wars fans expect. I don’t know how many series and films I just mentioned, but I’m sure that if you ask a die-hard fan what their favorite moment has been, the transcendental scene, the one that made them cry, the one they’ve been waiting for since childhood… Without a doubt, they’d mention Luke Skywalker’s appearance in The Mandalorian; seeing him destroy the Dark Troopers and, together with R2-D2, take Grogu for what was supposed to be his Jedi training.

Yes, the fan’s eternal dream came true in that episode. And this brings me to argument #2.

Argument #2: A very small universe

Now it’s the fans’ turn. People talk about the Star Wars universe, the saga. And certainly, there are I don’t know how many books published, video games, hundreds of characters scattered across various galaxies. However, there is a comfort zone for Star Wars fans. And they will all answer the same thing if you ask them about their favorite characters: What do you think they’ll say? Well, Luke, Han, Leia, the droids, Chewie, Ben Kenobi, Yoda, Darth Vader, because they are the core that made this franchise what it is. The problem Kathleen Kennedy has had to face is precisely that: although there are many books and materials of all kinds, Star Wars—at least for the fans—is intrinsically about the Skywalker family and their friends and enemies. What fans would like to see is Luke training Leia (when they were young).

What a lot of fans want is to somehow return to that world, which is impossible. While some -not all- younger fans want to explore other themes because they don’t have attachments to those characters, to the past, to the history they didn’t get to live. And Kennedy has done her best to offer a variety of stories and characters to fill this need. But at the same time, she’s been dealing with  old-school fans who want something that ended many years ago. And they close themselves to the only thing that can save Star Wars: the expansion to a true universe beyond the Skywalkers, because they’ve already told the story of this family.

It will be up to the younger audience to determine whether they care about the Star Wars franchise. But many 12- and 13-year-olds still enter Star Wars fandom through mythology of the Skywalker family…which perhaps indicates that this group of characters were, are, and will be Star Wars, and any other story not related to them will never have the same success, acceptance, and affection from fans.

The Verdict

Kathleen Kennedy has done the right thing, amidst a very complex situation. She is not Darth Sidious; she can’t keep people and characters alive forever… because characters and their stories have an end. Kathleen Kennedy is innocent; we should applaud her efforts and hope that whoever succeeds her—Dave Filoni, perhaps?—has equal or better luck trying to please the most difficult fans of that and any other galaxy.