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Fulfill your destiny.
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theories.com.
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Okay, bit of interesting piece of news
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that Dave Filona is going to be the guy
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that's going to take over Lucasfilm
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after Kathleen Kennedy steps down, which
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is probably any day now. Uh, most likely
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even in August. Let's go ahead and
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discuss some things. why it's bad, why
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it's good. Play devil's advocate on both
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and come to some sort of a consensus, at
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least on my side here. See through you,
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we can. Veteran movie producer Kathleen
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Kennedy became president of Lucasfilm in
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2012, who uh was put on the job by
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George Lucas. Now, she was put on pretty
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much last minute when George sold the
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company to Disney. He put her in charge
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and Bob Iger didn't really know about
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it. He was just like, "Oh, okay." George
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trusted her to carry his company and
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carry his legacy and he figured since he
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had worked with her for so many years
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that she would respect his story and and
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have his best interest in mind and the
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fans best interest in mind didn't um and
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so here we are. It was said that you
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would destroy this not join them. He was
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in the big chair during the Star Wars
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revival that kicked off in 2015 with The
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Force Awakens, the movie that went over
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really well, but follow-ups with The
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Last Jedi and Rise of Skywalker, which
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were far more controversial. These
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articles, they really got to start
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telling the truth. You know, it yes, it
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was controversial, but unanimously, I
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would say it was not wellreceived. That
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is why you fail. There have also been
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ups and downs on the TV side of things
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with the Mandalorian and Andor becoming
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hits while Bo book of Boba Fett and the
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Acolyte quietly dying in embarrassment.
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Well, first of all, you can't even
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compare Book of Boba to acolyte. Both
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were bad, but Book of Boba Fett at least
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was somewhat better. I can't even say
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better was that terrible. Fans have a
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lot of opinions of Kennedy, but she
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stuck it out for over a decade and made
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her mark. Sure did. According to
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Hollywood Reporter, she's one of several
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high-profile executives expected to step
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down in the near future. But who
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replaces her? Now, we've had a lot of
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different ideas of who could be stepping
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in. None of them were really all that
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promising. They were all just kind of
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like soon I will have a new apprentice,
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one far younger and more powerful.
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For THR, the current hope is to replace
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Kennedy with two people who would act as
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co-heads. Carrie Beck, who also joined
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Lucasfilm in 2012, and Dave Fona. It's
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unfortunate Lynn Hail stepped down. She
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was a really fantastic woman and she
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really worked hard with George. I had
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the privilege of speaking with her once
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when Pablo Hidalgo did his thing and
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tried to have a little fun at my
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expense. She actually emailed me and she
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wanted to check up on me and see if I'm
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all right and I was very respectful and
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I thanked her for all of her work with
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George and then she retired.
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That was the only kind of communication
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I ever had with her. Dave really started
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to make his mark on the animated series
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of Star Wars the Clone Wars which began
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in 2008. He continued with Star Wars
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Rebels and has worked on shows with the
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Mando and Ahsoka. He also has a big hand
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in Mando and Grou, which is currently on
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track to come out in theaters on May
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22nd, 2026. If it hits that target,
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it'll be the first Star Wars movie to
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drop in 6 years. This isn't an absolute
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sure thing, as there can always be
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surprises in a corporate secession.
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There are concerns with Fona and Beck.
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And you know, I would say I was one of
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the biggest Dave Filona fans. And part
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of me still is because of his work on
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the Clone Wars and some of the other
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projects he's done like Tales of the
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Jedi. But a part of a big part of me now
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is not just with his overall way of
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dealing with all of these shows that
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have just gone to You're going
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down a path I can't follow. Both of Boba
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Fett, Mando season 3. I don't know how
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he allowed the acolyte to even be a
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thing. Are you blind? Just look at it.
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And a lot of people say, "Oh, it was
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before his time." Listen, they were
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making it while he was still in his
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position. He could have easily been
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like, "No, we're not doing this. No,
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we're not bringing Kiotti Wendy back or
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we're not putting him in the story when
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he's not supposed to be around. We're
00:03:55
not putting Plus in. We're not putting
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Yoda in. There needs to be more nos. No.
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No, we're not doing that. No way. No
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way. Not okay, we'll put Yoda in at the
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very end, you know, just to allude to
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things to make you happy, Leslie. No,
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it's a no.
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Once the second started bringing in
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characters from the Clone Wars like
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Ahsokaano, I started to lose interest.
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As the insider put it, he's not the
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Andor guy, he's the Ahsoka guy. Uh, he's
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not the Andor guy, he's the Ahsoka guy.
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Well, yeah. One one is more so one
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doesn't have the force at all, bro. What
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are you talking about, man? One doesn't
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have the force at all. But one is all
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exposition talking building a story uh
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about non-important characters that will
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form something that's very very
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important which is the rebellion. So I
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guess you could say they're important
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but not really in terms of the original
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trilogy or the prequel trilogy or
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anything like that. Whereas Ahsoka spans
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throughout both. Still I feel like Fona
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has earned a chance to be the man in
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charge of Star Wars alongside Beck.
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Disney CEO Bob Iger is also expected to
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set Oh I didn't know that again.
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He already left in 2020 picking Bob
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Chapeek to replace him. Then Chapeek did
00:05:04
a terrible job and I returned to the
00:05:06
head role in 2022. The redo is coming.
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Executives queue up to replace Iger
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include Park's head Josh Dearo, ESPN
00:05:16
exec Jimmy Petaro and entertainment
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executives Dana Walden and Alan Bergman.
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There's a transfer of authority
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happening in many industries across the
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country, not just in Hollywood. Last
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year, two 20 221 CEOs stepped down.
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found the highest amount since 2002.
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What will the next generation do with
00:05:32
power once they have it? Strap in. This
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article was originally published on
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winteriscoming.net as Dave Fona next in
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line to replace Kathleen Kennedy as Star
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Wars franchise head. I mean, gez, what
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do I think of this? Uh Dave Filona, you
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know, it's it's tough cuz the stupid
00:05:48
decisions that he made, you know, Tales
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of the Empire, Book of Boba Fett, Mando
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season 3, Acolyte, which he was still
00:05:56
somewhat part of, and Leslie Hedland was
00:05:58
always using him as a scapegoat. Oh,
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well, Dave Foni signed off on great and
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all the other projects that I like
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thrown out of my head. I just Kenobi I
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mean how do you get to a point where you
00:06:09
have the most important characters that
00:06:11
give it $90 million and then you give
00:06:13
andor you know two $300 million a season
00:06:16
you know two seasons of it bonkers
00:06:18
doesn't make sense. So you know and the
00:06:20
ending of Ahsoka season 1 I I thought
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the last few episodes were just not good
00:06:25
at all. Like you build us up to a decent
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place and then you just drop the ball
00:06:30
and make it boring. Part of me wants to
00:06:32
believe that a lot of his decisions that
00:06:33
he wanted to do would have been really
00:06:36
amazing decisions. But Kathleen Kennedy
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was saying no, no, no to all of this
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crap because she felt she knew best or
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she wanted something different. The
00:06:43
other part of me says, okay, no, this is
00:06:46
now Dave Fona. This is how he operates
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and he's been given all of this power to
00:06:49
kind of do what he wants and he's just
00:06:52
kind of like a people pleaser. Like he's
00:06:53
just making all these people that are
00:06:54
hired by Kathleen happy by saying yes so
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people will like him or something. I
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don't know. It's not true. I I have no
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idea what his stance is and I haven't
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quite figured it him out. You know, when
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he was with George, I felt like he was
00:07:08
quite in line. Like he was very all
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about George Lucas Star Wars. He was
00:07:12
very all about the lore and really
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really cared about what would George do.
00:07:18
Whereas now, I feel like he's kind of
00:07:20
taken it and turned it into his own
00:07:22
thing and isn't really too concerned
00:07:24
with what George would think anymore.
00:07:26
more so just focused on how he would
00:07:28
operate the story, how he would carry
00:07:29
the story, what he would do with these
00:07:31
new characters, these new Disney
00:07:32
characters like Sabine, you know. So, in
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my opinion, I don't really know where I
00:07:37
stand with Dave Fona cuz it's like we've
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gotten some really great projects from
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him. We've gotten some really not great
00:07:43
projects from him. Pain
00:07:46
suffering. And so I'm wondering if it
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was just Palpatine in the corner the
00:07:51
whole time controlling his hand and that
00:07:54
being Kathleen Kennedy or if these are
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actually his decisions. I believe you
00:07:58
are the only Jedi with no knowledge of
00:08:01
this plot.
00:08:03
When the Jedi learn what has transpired
00:08:05
here, they will kill us. A lot of people
00:08:08
will say it was Kathleen. A lot of
00:08:09
people will say it was him and he has
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just lost the mark now that George is
00:08:14
not there to control. He's just free
00:08:16
reign doing what he wants. At the end of
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the day, I think if we were to have
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someone take over Lucasfilm, it wouldn't
00:08:23
just be one person. George Lucas was a
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genius and he knew Star Wars, of course,
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better than anybody. I believe if we're
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going to have someone lead Lucasfilm the
00:08:32
way George would have done, we're going
00:08:34
to need several people. As much as I'm
00:08:36
not really a fan of Tony Gilroy, he did
00:08:38
do a good job with those last five or
00:08:40
six episodes of Andor season 2. They
00:08:43
were quite phenomenal. I have to give
00:08:45
credit where credit's due. Maybe I
00:08:46
didn't feel too happy with the first few
00:08:49
episodes or whatever, but those final
00:08:50
ones were actually really well done in
00:08:52
terms of exposition and story and
00:08:54
whatever. This is not an andor review,
00:08:55
but they were good. So, I feel like he
00:08:57
has at least something and he knows how
00:09:00
to write a script or or or direct. And
00:09:02
then if you have, you know, the lore
00:09:03
masters around him to kind of make sure
00:09:05
that he stays within the confines of
00:09:07
George and what he would have wanted,
00:09:08
then great. Lucasfilm Story Group, in my
00:09:11
opinion, I think they need to be wiped.
00:09:13
I think we need a new Lucasfilm story
00:09:15
group because most of the people in
00:09:16
Lucasfilm story group today are just
00:09:18
Disney hires. When Disney came in and I
00:09:22
had a few emails from some old school
00:09:24
Lucasfilm guys, they said most of the
00:09:28
people at Lucasfilm that were working
00:09:29
there all through with George were
00:09:31
fired. They were let go on the spot.
00:09:33
They had to pack up their desks. Years
00:09:35
of working, decades of working at Luke
00:09:38
like that gone and replace them were all
00:09:41
Disney people from Disney. I built this
00:09:44
brick by brick. They weren't Star
00:09:46
Wars people. Sure, they may have watched
00:09:48
Star Wars, may have liked Star Wars, but
00:09:50
they weren't working there in the
00:09:51
trenches with George. You know, you know
00:09:53
why I have money and you don't have
00:09:54
money, okay? It's because instead of
00:09:56
spending my time doing autographs, I
00:09:58
spent my time making movies, right? It's
00:10:00
one thing to like Star Wars and it's
00:10:02
another thing to really understand it
00:10:04
and have grown up with it. And it's more
00:10:06
than just some sort of a, oh yeah, the
00:10:08
science fiction movie. Oh yeah, Darth
00:10:10
Vader, right? Oh, it's more than that.
00:10:13
If you're to have someone take over
00:10:14
Lucasfilm and run it the way George
00:10:16
would kind of foresee things, this would
00:10:18
be my list. Tony Gilroy. Believe I'm
00:10:21
saying that but look, it was good.
00:10:22
Dave Fona because at the end of the day,
00:10:25
regardless how we feel about Dave, he is
00:10:28
the closest guy to George Lucas in terms
00:10:32
of having learned from him, but we just
00:10:34
need to keep him in line. John Favro,
00:10:36
cuz I think Jon is just a giant kid at
00:10:39
the end of the day who is enamored with
00:10:41
the original trilogy. Every time he
00:10:43
touches something Star Wars, it just
00:10:45
feels like this dude is just a kid who
00:10:48
loves the first three films that ever
00:10:51
came out and he's just throwing what he
00:10:53
can at the board with that in mind and
00:10:56
building a story through that. And I and
00:10:58
for that I I see the passion. I see the
00:11:00
fun and I see that childish magic that
00:11:04
he puts into the stuff except for Mando
00:11:06
season 3 which was complete and I think
00:11:08
that was because of Kathleen Kennedy but
00:11:09
I'm not sure. The next person we would
00:11:11
need is Sam Witworth, who knows a lot
00:11:14
about the lore. Beyond that, I would
00:11:16
have Stuart Bey, who my god, if you guys
00:11:18
read his magnificent script for Kenobi,
00:11:21
I mean, holy Um, and beyond that,
00:11:24
I mean, uh, I'm sure there's a couple
00:11:26
more people that we could add to it, but
00:11:27
I think the main three that I could see
00:11:30
would be Dave Fona, John Favro, and Sam
00:11:33
Witworth. Sam Witworth to kind of corral
00:11:35
everything. Dave for the creative and
00:11:38
John for the pure creative and just
00:11:40
having fun with it. I think those three
00:11:42
guys would keep things in line pretty
00:11:44
well. And then you put Tony Gilroy in
00:11:46
the mix to give a real comprehensive
00:11:50
writing and exposition and pacing and
00:11:52
all that stuff for the projects that the
00:11:54
boys do want to make. I think that would
00:11:57
be okay. Now, I am only saying this
00:12:01
because I am under the impression that
00:12:03
Kathleen Kennedy is forcing Dave's hand
00:12:06
to make these stupid decisions when it
00:12:08
comes to the films and shows and all
00:12:11
that stuff that we've seen. Impossible
00:12:13
to see the future is and nobody will
00:12:16
know unless they're actually working
00:12:18
there. If it is indeed Dave that's
00:12:21
mucking these up on his own accord, then
00:12:23
I don't know, dude. He He's a mixed bag.
00:12:25
You know, some of some of his stuff is
00:12:26
great. Some of his stuff is just you're
00:12:28
you're questioning like this was
00:12:30
George's apprentice. What's going on? I
00:12:32
used to be a huge Dave Flooney die hard.
00:12:36
There's been a few questionables and now
00:12:37
I have to uh reassess my my opinion of
00:12:40
him and naturally I can't just be a a
00:12:42
blinded fan. Oh, he's the best. No, he's
00:12:45
done some questionable things. So, if he
00:12:47
were to come on board, you know, I' I'd
00:12:48
really we it'd be unfortunate because we
00:12:51
would have to see a pattern. You know,
00:12:52
what is he like now that he has full
00:12:54
power? that he has full autonomy, that
00:12:56
he has full control. He doesn't have
00:12:58
Kathleen nagging in his ear, if she ever
00:13:00
was telling him what to do and what not
00:13:02
to do. So, it's a bit of a dilemma. I
00:13:05
personally think that he can do a lot of
00:13:07
good if he just sticks a little more to
00:13:10
what George would have done. And I feel
00:13:12
like ever since that he's come on board,
00:13:14
he's become a little um too free reign.
00:13:17
George would not have done some of the
00:13:18
decisions that you would have made. I
00:13:20
don't think so. Maybe I'm wrong, but I
00:13:22
just it didn't land and it's
00:13:24
inconsistent and I don't know why
00:13:26
because some of his stuff is great and
00:13:28
some is just is this a different person,
00:13:30
you know? Are there just too many heads
00:13:32
fighting each other? That's my thoughts
00:13:33
on Dave Filon. It's that I'm still
00:13:35
unsure. I like him because of his past
00:13:37
stuff and some of his stuff, but then I
00:13:40
I question his motive and his decision-m
00:13:43
with a lot of other things. I don't know
00:13:45
what you guys think. I know it's a mixed
00:13:47
bag. A lot of the subs here really
00:13:49
dislike him. A lot of the subs here find
00:13:52
him to be the only one uh to be the new
00:13:55
hope in Star Wars. Literally, he's like
00:13:57
Luke Skywalker. At the end of the day,
00:13:58
let me know in the comments. Is he the
00:14:00
guy or is there somebody else? Is there
00:14:02
someone else we don't know about in the
00:14:04
shadows that could really lead Lucasfilm
00:14:07
to the golden era again, the platinum
00:14:10
era, and and be loyal to George? Nobody
00:14:13
is. No one's loyal to George, dude. They
00:14:16
all talk a big game. And Kathleen
00:14:18
Kennedy is the biggest game talker in
00:14:22
the world, but she doesn't back anything
00:14:23
up. She never once protected George or
00:14:25
his stories or his scripts or anything
00:14:27
like that or his legacy. She destroyed
00:14:29
it. But that doesn't mean I'm unwilling
00:14:32
to turn it over to Kathy to do more. I
00:14:34
have story treatments of 7 8 and 9 and a
00:14:37
bunch of other movies. And I sort of
00:14:39
moved that treasure trove of stories and
00:14:42
various things to Kathy and you have
00:14:44
complete confidence that she's going to
00:14:46
take them and make great movies.
00:14:50
So, I'm hoping that um whoever does come
00:14:53
on board, they're not just going to be a
00:14:54
clone of Kathleen, but they're really
00:14:56
going to focus on the heart of Star Wars
00:14:59
and the true magic of Star Wars and what
00:15:01
George wanted to tell, wanted to say,
00:15:03
the story he wanted to create for kids,
00:15:05
for people to inspire hope, to tell life
00:15:08
lessons, and to make us all feel the end
00:15:10
of the day. That's all it's what it's
00:15:12
about. And the story of the Force and
00:15:14
family and lightsabers, that's what it's
00:15:16
about. Whoever takes Kathleen's place, I
00:15:18
wish her uh I wish Kathleen the best of
00:15:20
her life um and a great time away from
00:15:24
Star Wars hopefully. And it's
00:15:26
unfortunate that we have to say that. I
00:15:27
wish her tenure would have been like we
00:15:29
would have gotten the most amazing
00:15:30
things and her stepping down would have
00:15:32
been really horrible for a lot of fans.
00:15:34
You know, that would have been a nice
00:15:35
reality. And I'm sure it's out there
00:15:36
somewhere, but we're not living in that
00:15:38
one. So with Dave, if he takes over,
00:15:41
hope this whole time Kathleen's just
00:15:42
been whispering in your ear making you
00:15:44
do things. You want to keep your job,
00:15:46
Dave, don't you? We must move quickly.
00:15:48
The Jedi are relentless.
00:15:51
Anyways, that's it from me. I wonder
00:15:53
what you guys think. Have a great day,
00:15:54
and may the force be with you.
![2Pac - Rags To Riches Interview (1995) [All Eyez On Me]](https://ruhnrawpgxrzdrgaohnf.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/images/video/Mj8ufirbbzk/thumbnail.jpg)
