The Death Star Human Resources Department Newsletter: March 7, 2025
Saying nothing while saying everything is a skill
Hello there
Once again, it’s a Friday and that means a brand new edition of the Death Star Human Resources Department Newsletter, the only newsletter that talks about 22 year old Star Wars books and has random references to The Simpsons. This week we go in depth, or at least as in depth as we get here at Death Star HR, with Kathleen Kennedy’s non-retirement announcement. We also got a new Andor trailer and I’m getting closer to finishing up the New Jedi Order books.
This Is Where The Fun Begins
Long time real-life and Death Star HR friend Darth Vo sent me this link. Since Substack doesn’t allow you to embed Reddit videos, you’ll have to click the link. If Star Wars ever wanted to translate some of the Visions cartoons into live action, they should probably give this guy a call.
Most of the comments say the guy is using something called a leviwand or a flow stick. Which can be turned into a lightsaber.
Kathleen Kennedy is a Master at Doublespeak
As I mentioned last week, an unnamed source kicked off a frenzy on Star Wars internet by saying that Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy was retiring at the end of the year. Thursday evening, Kennedy gave an exclusive interview to Deadline’s Mike Fleming Jr. to both set the record straight and to both confirm and deny reports she was stepping down. As I quoted last week.
The truth is, and I want to just say loud and clear, I am not retiring. I will never retire from movies. I will die making movies. That is the first thing that’s important to say. I am not retiring. What’s happening at Lucasfilm is I have been talking for quite some time with both Bob and Alan about what eventual succession might look like.
Bob and Alan are Disney CEO Bob Iger and Co-Chairman and head of streaming, Alan Bergman. I appreciate someone talking out of both sides of their mouth. And I appreciation how everyone’s assertion can be true, from a certain point of view of course. It is possible for Kennedy to step down as president at the end of the year, as the initial report, but does not “retire.”
I want to start with the tone of the interview. I obviously don’t know Matt Belloni at Puck or Mike Fleming Jr. at Deadline, but the tone of the interview really felt like Lucasfilm had a sit down discussion as to “who will peddle the softball questions we’re looking for?” I’m not saying this to shit talk Fleming. That seems to be how access journalism goes these days. You’re not told what to write, but if you get an exclusive, you know what the vibe of the questions is supposed to be. Come on.
I admire Belloni’s hustle and ability to turn over hard ground, but his penchant for defining industry people like Kennedy in disparaging ways, well, I just don’t understand that. I didn’t appreciate it when Deadline founder Nikki Finke did it here, and it feels like the appetite for schadenfreude is nowhere near as high now, given how this business is still trying to regain footing after the global pandemic, the yearlong labor strikes and most recently the devastating wildfires that ravaged Southern California.
If you’re mean to Kathy, the wildfires have won!
As I usually relate things to The Simpsons, I just kept thinking of the early episode where Mr. Burns runs for governor of whatever state Springfield is in.
That is not say there’s nothing of substance in the interview, far from it. Honestly it might be the most informative interview we’ve seen in a while. So in a way - again from a certain point of view - maybe we need to thank Belloni for his initial report.
Of note, Kennedy states she’s going to at least stick around to produce The Mandalorian and Grogu and the Shawn Levy movie.
I’m producing the Mandalorian movie right now, and I’m also producing Shawn Levy’s movie, which is after that. So I’m continuing to stay at Lucasfilm and looking very thoughtfully with Bob and Alan as to who’s stepping in. So that is all underway, and we have every right to make that announcement when we want to make it.
In response to a question about how hard it is to rerun a company based on “a beloved IP.”
The world, needless to say, is changing by the second, and consequently, the audience has changed dramatically. How they consume things. We’re seeing this reflected in the health of the movie business, and what it really means for streaming and what are all these other platforms that may be on the horizon. You’re trying to look forward. And at the same time, you’re trying to create stories that feel familiar. So you’re moving into the future, but you’re maintaining a sense of familiarity. I think that’s the hardest balance.
Again, going with The Simpsons.
On Simon Kinberg’s upcoming trilogy that may or may not be episodes 10 - 12.
We’re absolutely rolling fast and furiously. That has gone exceptionally well, and he’s literally going to script as we speak. We’ll see something probably around June.
…
This is the next iteration, the new saga that moves us into the future.
An update on Shawn Levy’s movie.
That’s also in the future. It’s all post-[the first] nine. Shawn’s is a standalone Star Wars story that’ll take place post-nine, maybe five or six years out.
It seems like they’re going to position the next wave of movies as the post-Rise of Skywalker era. You can have the Rey New Jedi order movie, Levy’s movie, and Kinberg’s trilogy are going to usher in the next era of story telling. Say we get the Mando movie, Ahsoka season 2, and the Mandoverse movie. Maybe Mando season 4. That can put a bow on the post-ROTJ era for a while and Star Wars can move on.
I will give Fleming credit for getting an very important answer out of Kennedy. What’s the deal with Taika Waititi?
DEADLINE: Any others that I’ve forgotten?
KENNEDY: Well, I keep waiting for Taika [Waititi], and he is working with another writer now. He’s so busy. I love him. I think if we ever do get a script from Taika, it’s going to be fantastic. I already saw a first act that I loved, but tying him down, it’s tricky.
Turns out Kathleen and I have something in common. Sure, she’s a Hollywood big wig with tons of movies to her name and a pretty kickass job while I’m a schlub writing this in a coffee shop with spotty wifi, but we both really want Taika to pick it up and get his Star Wars movie done.
There’s more to her interview, but I’m not going to copy and paste all of it, it’s worth reading for yourself. I do think the reaction that the initial report set off was interesting, and telling of the place that Star Wars holds in the culture. It wasn’t just a reaction among the nerd news sites and Reddit. The news that Kennedy was stepping down was all over. It was CNN where there was finally some confirmation that the initial report wasn’t quite correct. Sure, you could make the case that Kennedy is a high profile woman in Hollywood at one of the largest entertainment companies in the world, and that would be of interest. But are you really going to see this kind of news storm if whoever is in charge of rides at Disney was allegedly retiring? Seems unlikely. Regardless of Star Wars being in kind of a weird place right now, where Disney can’t decide if the it’s moving back to movies or keeping with streaming. And regardless of Star Wars getting sucked into the culture wars, like everything else these days, if it wasn’t something that still captured everyone’s imaginations, Kennedy stepping down and then not stepping down wouldn’t be newsworthy.
Also, Kath. Here’s your chance to really leave a legacy. Don’t name Filoni your successor, name me. I’ve got some ideas.
The Andor Hype Train Rolls Along
As I said last week, we’re less than two months away from the Andor season 2 premiere, which means the Disney hype machine is right on schedule. Last week was the official trailer. This week we got a “special look.”
Feel like I need to mention this every so often when a new series is released. It is the official policy of the Death Star Human Resources Department Newsletter to post spoilers. Things are too difficult to discuss without doing so. So if you’re not watching the trailers and avoid spoilers, I’d skip ahead to the next section.
Disney like releasing these sort of videos after they release a trailer. These are a mix of footage from the show, some you saw in the trailer and some new, along some clips of the various actors talking about the series. In this one you’ve got Tony Gilroy, Genevieve O’Reilly, Diego Luna, and Adria Arjona. They did give a little more away in this one. In the trailer you see someone quickly walking through what looks like an office and shooting an Imperial office. You’d assume it was Cassian.
Turns out, it’s our girl Bix. Fake out!
Like I mentioned last week, it’s tough to really figure out the plot since there’s going to be four different plots. Since the release schedule is one three-episode story arc per week for 4 weeks, we’re basically going to get 4 new Star Wars movies in the same number of weeks. The run-times for each episode haven’t been released yet but most episodes of season 1 were in the 40-50 minute range. Given the scope of the story that Gilroy wants to tell and that the season 2 budget is reportedly almost $300 million, it wouldn’t surprise me if we got 2 hours of Star Wars each week. Which I am absolutely OK with. Make it 3 hours a week, I can take it.
The Death Star Human Resources Department Book Club: New Jedi Order #14
Remember that goal of finishing up the New Jedi Order books by February? Well, it’s March, so it didn’t happen. But hey, we’re still on the right track.
Title: Destiny’s Way
Series: New Jedi Order. Book #14
Author: Walter Jon Williams
Date published: October 1, 2002
Pages: 451
Status: Legends
Summary in 20 words or less: The plot points are more or less set for the remaining books. Also the horniest Star Wars Legends book?
The only NJO book by an author using his full name.
The one thing in the back of my mind as I’ve been reading the New Jedi Order books is how much did 9/11 and the subsequent War on Terror play a roll? Here me out here. It obviously doesn’t work for the first eight books, Vector Prime through Edge of Victory: Rebirth, as they were all published before the events of September 11th, 2001 and unless James Luceno is secretly a Jedi who can see into the future, it’s impossible for those books to have influenced by it. The first book published after 9/11 was Star by Star by Troy Denning in October 2001. I’m not sure what the turnaround time on getting these books written, obviously Denning did not write Star by Star and have it edited and published less than a month after 9/11.
The parallels between the global war on terror as presented to the American, and by extension the rest of the West and the threat of the Yuuzhan Vong are too similar to ignore. I’ve mentioned this before, especially at the start of my New Jedi Order read, but I don’t think it’s been mentioned lately. It’s possible it has, but to be honest, Substack’s search feature is garbage. It’s way too difficult to search your old posts and find what you’re looking for. But that is neither here nor there. The Yuuzhan Vong are presented as an alien species, basically unknowable to the citizens of the galaxy far, far away. They are religious fanatics, driven by a bloodlust against technology, they’ll stop at nothing to destroy the way of life for the citizens of the Republic. Their ways, their customs, even their looks are completely foreign to the Republic.
You don’t need an imagination like George Lucas to see the parallels to how the war on terror after 9/11 was marketed and sold to the American public.
It’s certainly possible that it was in the back of the minds of some of the writers. The first book came out in 1999, with plotting starting the year before. There was the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing and and the 1998 bombings of the US Embassy in both Kenya and Tanzinia. Although it happened after the books started, you had the bombing of the USS Cole approximately 11 months before the 9/11 attacks. I don’t think it’s impossible that the writers looked to Islamist terrorism as partial inspiration. Honestly, I’m surprised there wasn’t a scene where Borsk Fey'lya hangs a “mission accomplished” banner.
On the other hand, since these books were coming out at the same time as the Prequels, maybe George told them to leave it alone, he’s got the war on terror allenogies covered. Especially in Revenge of the Sith.
Anyway, getting to Destiny’s Way. This is the only Star Wars book, New Jedi Order or otherwise, written by Walter Jon Williams. After the last book, Traitor where we had Jacen Solo and Vergere’s magical journey, we’re reminded that is a war going on and what’s left of the New Republic is at best in a stalemate with the Vong. The book starts with a bang. Han and Leia along with an Imperial Remanent officer are trying to get to Imperial territory to see old friend Grand Admiral Pelleon. Leia gets a Force feeling that Jacen is alive and Han learns a new trick to avoid Vong space mines. Meanwhile Jania Solo and the rest of her squadron are locked in a space battle where they’re hoping to destroy a Vong worldship that belongs to Yuuzhan Vong Supreme Overlord Shimrra. Obviously the Palpatine of the Vong isn’t going to die in book 14. But Jania also senses that Jacen is back.
The other big reveal is Vergere finally tells everyone that she was in fact a Jedi who served the Old Republic. She was sent to investigate the Vong and found a mysterious planet Zonama Sekot (this will be important later) and instead of reporting back to the Council, she thought she might as well tag along. Again, I wonder how if Vergere influenced Kreia because they both love to speak in riddles in an excessive amount, even by Jedi standards. The scenes between Luke and Vergere are some of the ones I’ve enjoyed the most, exploring the Force and the Vong’s connection to it. Also, Luke is a lot less emo that Jacen is. The kid can get a little too moody and self-righteous, sometimes in the same paragraph. Luke is more grounded. The big takeaway from their talks is that although the Jedi cannot sense the Vong through the Force, Vergere says her opinion is just because the Jedi cannot sense them, doesn’t mean they don’t exist in the Force. Remember, as fans our very first lesson in the Force is Obi-Wan telling Luke the Force is an energy created by all living things. If the Vong exist outside of the Force, are they really alive?
Again to tie this back to the post 9/11 environment, the other’ing of the enemy was a hallmark of it. I suppose that’s true for any war. But since I wasn’t alive for the Vietnam War and I don’t think anyone was really treating the Panamanians as sub-human during President Bush 41’s little jaunt to capture his old CIA running buddy, this would have been my first experience seeing it.
Why is it important that Luke be able to view the Yuuzhan Vong as “living” within the Force? Well, New Republic Intelligence has develop ed a biological weapon, code-named “Alpha Red” which is simultaneously a badass and extremely dumb name. It will attack both the Vong themselves and any of their living biotech. The Jedi are of course, opposed. The remaining government and military of the New Republic is on board, to varying levels of enthusiasm. From their point of view, this is understandable. At this point, the Vong war has been going on (I believe) for roughly 3 years. If genocide ends it, well wiping out the Vong is a small price to pay for securing the New Republic. Again, think War on Terror and hawk politicians would have nuked Iraq if they could have gotten away with it.
The book is setting up that we’re on the final push, which makes sense this since this is book 14 out of 19. The New Republic has risen from the ashes and formed something of a government. The Imperials aren’t completely on board but are at least thinking about it. And Luke is (once again) reforming the Jedi Council of sorts. Knowing that more Jedi are needed for the fight and maybe a moral booster, all the Jedi from the Voxxyn killing mission get promoted to Jedi Knights in a ceremony. Which seems nice, until Luke gives Jania the least-inspirational speech you can imagine.
"I name you the Sword of the Jedi. You are like tempered steel, purposeful and razor-keen. Always you shall be in the front rank, a burning brand to your enemies, a brilliant fire to your friends. Yours is a restless life, and never shall you know peace, though you shall be blessed for the peace that you bring to others. Take comfort in the fact that, though you stand tall and alone, others take shelter in the shadow that you cast."
Really, Luke? Jania Solo has had a rough go of things. Chewie died to start the series. Han went a bender for a few books. Anakin died. Jacen got captured by the Vong and was presumed dead. Now Uncle Luke basically says this? Honestly, I wouldn’t have blamed Jania one bit if she just said “screw this” and went off to Jakku or someplace like that.
The book wraps with one of the bigger battles we’ve seen. The New Republic drag Admiral Ackbar out of retirement. Not only is he good at recognizing traps, he’s pretty good at setting them as well. Jania, Lowbacca, and Tesar Sebatyne are bait, to lure the Vong to Ebaq 9 in the Deep Core. Vong Warmaster Tsavong Lah eventually realizes it’s a trap and decides to go on the offense. He lands on the Ebaq 9 with 10,000 troops to hunt down and kill the Jedi. Vergere, already on a New Republic shitlist for sabotaging project Alpha Red, does Jacen a solid by stealing an A-Wing and crashing it on Ebaq 9, triggering an explosive decompression in the moon’s mines and wiping out all the Vong, except for Lah of course. Don’t worry, the Warmaster meets the business end of Jania’s lightsaber. The Sword of the Jedi, indeed.
The Good:
An all around top tier Star Wars book. You’ve got space battles, Jedi battles, meditations on the Force, skullduggery, the return of old favorite characters. In some ways even better than the preceding book, Traitor. While that one is a little more interesting and unusual, Destiny’s Way nails just about everything you could want in a Star Wars book.
The Bad:
Two books in a row, nothing to complain about.
Wild Card:
This book has the most implied sex in the Star Wars universe, hands down.
The Force Heretic Trilogy is up next!
This Day in Star Wars History
March 7th was a slow day in the Star Wars universe. Only two entries, a birth and a death.
Actor Tobias Menzies was born in 1974. He voiced Mandalorian Tiber Saxon in Rebels. Tiber was one of the bad Mandalorians who sided with the Empire. Too bad he wasn’t around for The Mandalorian. He would have learned that you just can’t trust the Empire.
Charlie Gray died in 2000. Gray played Trech Molock in A New Hope. And if you knew who that character was without looking him up, congratulations. You are a true Sicko. Molock was one of the random Imperial officers in the conference room on the Death Star.
From the Depths of Wookieepedia
This week we’ve got Nworb Yorel aka Big Nworb Yorel the Bad, which lets be honest, sounds like he’s a character from a Weird Al song. No, he’s not one of the people Al meets on his journey to the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota. Instead he’s a bandit on Kashyyyk. If I were a criminal in the Star Wars universe, I think Kashyyyk would be a good planet you should avoid. It’s dangerous and the inhabitants can rip your arms off.
News From the HoloNet
For a Brief Moment, the Original Version of Star Wars Was Actually Streaming Online
I have the 1995 VHS copies of the OT in a drawer. Just need a VCR now.
It being written and it being filmed are way different things in the Star Wars universe. Or in any universe, I suppose.
NERD FIGHT!!!
22 Years Later, This RPG Still Features 1 of the Best Twists in Star Wars History
I wish I could do a severance procedure but only so I could go back and play Knights of the Old Republic without any knowledge of it.
That’s it for this week. If you like what I’m doing, please subscribe. I’ll catch you next week, and may the Force be with you.
I'm probably the minority but I don't actually love getting 3 episodes of Andor every week. I'd rather it run 12 weeks so I can savor it. I get the point of the schedule but it also feels rushed.
I'd be okay with you succeeding Kathleen Kennedy.