The Death Star Human Resources Department Newsletter: January 9, 2026
Somehow...Death Star HR has returned
Hello there
Hey everyone!
I hope everyone enjoyed whatever winter holiday they might celebrate. Here at Death Star HR HQ, we survived. Which is really the only achievable goal these days. And even then, it’s certainly not a sure thing. But, I have returned from my self-imposed holiday exile on Exegol and the Death Star Human Resources Department Newsletter is back and ready to take on whatever fresh hell this sure to be dumb year is going to throw at us. Because while I have no idea what’s going to happen out the real world, I can always guarantee it’s going to be extra-stupid.
In the galaxy far, far away there’s a decent amount to look forward to this year. Unfortunately we have to start with addressing the 1,138th iteration of the “Kathleen Kennedy is retiring” rumors. There’s a new picture released from The Mandalorian and Grogu. And I’ll do a rundown on what I didn’t talk about for the last 6 weeks.
As always, thanks for reading Death Star HR. If you’re reading this and you’re not a subscriber, I’d love it if you entered your email below and smashed that subscribe button. There’s also an official Death Star HR Instagram and an official Death Star HR YouTube page as well and I’d love it if you subscribed there as well.
This Is Where The “Fun” Begins
Been thinking a lot about Andor the last couple days for absolutely no reason.
Yup. Absolutely no reason at all to be thinking about Andor. Just really pretty random on my part. Absolutely zero parallels with the show and our failing state. None whatsoever.
Rumor’s of Kathleen Kennedy’s Demise Are Greatly Exaggerated
Sigh, we’re doing this again. The article is dated January 6th, but I swear it was earlier in the week. No matter. Puck Magazine, the online magazine that kicked off last year’s “Kennedy is stepping down” speculate got the rumor mill fired up again. In their 2026 Hollywood predictions article,1 writer Matthew Belloni writes:
In the next week or two, Disney will finally confirm what we’ve all known for months: Kathleen Kennedy is indeed stepping down as Lucasfilm president, and Dave Filoni, currently the chief creative officer of the Star Wars unit, will be elevated into the top job. (Simon Halls, Kennedy’s personal publicist, has already set up her cushy exit interview… I’m sure the Pulitzer committee is standing by for that piece of journalism.) Filoni has never really been a traditional executive, so they’re giving him a partner in Lynwen Brennan, currently president and general manager of Lucasfilm Business, but he’ll be the decider on the creative direction of the franchise in film, television, and any other platforms in the galaxy.
It is also worth repeating that somehow Puck is an entertainment website, not a hockey website. I have no idea how some enterprising hockey blogger didn’t snatch up puck.com in the very early days of the internet, but I digress.
During the last round of rumor-mongering which was almost a year ago and was also kicked off by Belloni, the thought was that cowboy hat aficionado Dave Filoni along with current Lucasfilm executive vice-president Carrie Beck would take over as co-president. Filoni would handle the nerd wrangling and the more creative side while Beck would handle the business side of things. It appears Beck’s roll has been swapped out for Lynwen Brennan, president and general manager of Lucasfilm Business. That covers Lucasfilm, along with ILM and Skywalker Sound. And I’m sure there are some other divisions as well.
This is all conjecture and hearsay. And while it’s not evidence, those are kinds of evidence2.
There is really a reason that the Kennedy rumors have persisted for a while not. She’s 72 years old, turning 73 this summer. Her husband is 79. She’s had a long and storied career in Hollywood. Even if you take away her Star Wars movies, her resume is top notch. She has a producer credit on, just to pick a few, E.T., Jurassic Park, The Sixth Sense, and Arachnophobia. The last one being a movie that terrified my Sith-ster when we were kids. Along with executive producer credits on Gremlins, The Goonies, Schindler’s List, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit. And that’s just picking a few. There are plenty of other hits with her name on them. Even if you only had one quarter of her movies, it’s still a stellar career. You have to assume at some point she’s going want to retire and enjoy life.
Kennedy ending her Lucasfilm career sometime during or at the end of 2026 would make sense. As I’ve talked about before, Star Wars feels like it’s at a crossroads. Disney has gone from movies to streaming and back to movies. The Mandalorian and Grogu along with season 2 of Ahsoka seem like the end of what I’ll call Phase 2 of Disney Star Wars. Yes, I know there’s the long-rumored Filoniverse movie out there, but there’s no date for it. Or even an announced script. It would make sense to for Kennedy to say she’s seen Star Wars through the sale to Disney, the first round of movies, and the streaming era. Time to relax on the beach with a mai tai or something like that.
So far, Kennedy and Lucasfilm has maintained radio silence. Despite it being framed as official news by all the media outlets that picked it up, there hasn’t been any confirmation from Disney, Lucasfilm, or Kennedy. The last time around, Kennedy found a friendly journalist to pitch her some softball questions. She also gave what I as a lawyer thought was a masterful response where you say something and say nothing.
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.
I’m not retiring from movies. But I will eventual step down at Lucasfilm. Both those statements can be true at the same time. The other little tidbit I had forgotten until I went back and read what I wrote back in March of last year is that she’s also signed on as a producer for Starfighter, the Shawn Levy directed movie coming out in 2027. So she’s sticking around a little longer in at least some capacity.
The reaction from certain corners of the internet has been predictable, just like it was last year. Some sample headlines.
I am not going to rehash or re-litigate Kathleen Kennedy’s tenure at Lucasfilm. That’s a topic for another day, maybe when she actually does step down. But there is a line of thinking among extremely online Star Wars fans that Kennedy has destroyed everything they love about Star Wars. Except for that they likely love Andor as well. But hey, the argument goes. That was all Gilroy. Except for Tony Gilroy has publicly said Andor got to be ANDOR because of Kennedy.
She [Kennedy] has protected the show and protected me and wrangled a team together. When we started challenging Kathy, Kathy just kept saying yes. “Oh, I’m going to put the first scene in a brothel.” “Okay.” “I’m going to have them kill two cops.” “Okay.” “We want the production designer from Chernobyl.” “Okay, good idea.” She backed our play and got everything that we were doing. We’ve been through everything, she and I, on this—all the good and all the bad. There’s no show without her. For all the shit that she takes online, it’s just insane. This show exists because she forced it to happen. What a tough job she has, man.
It’s worth repeating, “[t]his show exists because she forced it to happen.” I don’t think you can get a much better endorsement than that.
A New Photograph From The Mandalorian And Grogu
It is Mando and Grogu in an AT-AT.
The picture provides absolutely no new information, other than I guess this is the first time we’ve seen Mando (potentially) pilot an AT-AT. It’s odd that The USA Today got the photo, but hey, I’ll take it.
News From the HoloNet - Expanded Edition
Normally this is the last section of Death Star HR every week, but since there’s been 5 - 6 weeks worth of news since I last rapped at ya, I thought it might be a good idea to catch up.
His Job Is to Resuscitate ‘Star Wars.’ No Pressure
I usually don’t get into headlines like this, too clickbait. But, when Star Wars makes the New York Times, it’s worth noting.
Tom Cruise Helped Shoot a Lightsaber Duel for ‘Star Wars: Starfighter’
Steven Spielberg, or possible Señor Spielbergo, was on set that day as well. Cruise is kinda a weirdo, but he famously does his own stunts so I guess having him help shoot a lightsaber duel makes sense. Also, we’re getting a lightsaber duel in Starfighter!
Report: ‘Star Wars’ Cancels ‘Mandalorian’ Universe as Disney Heads in New Direction
Rumor mill says Mando season 4 isn’t happening. Honestly, The Mandalorian and Grogu along with the (hopeful) Filoni-verse movie would be a nice way to send off Mando and Grogu. Let their adventures continue in the books.
Disney+ Reveals “Star Wars: Ahsoka” Season 2 Release Window
Disney+ confirms it’s getting released this year. Given that there’s no December movie on the calendar, I’d expect this sometime at the end of the year. Thanksgiving or later.
Comics Star Wars Officially Retcons The Force Awakens & It Doesn’t Make Any Sense
My advice is never think of the comics as canon. Does Star Wars still do the “tiers” of canon? I know back in the pre-Disney days, comics didn’t count.
This Forgotten Star Wars Series Is Returning to Shelves in 2026
Speaking of comics, there used to be a Star Wars comic strip in the “news-papers". Something that also used to be a thing. My first job was a paperboy. Time has passed me by.
Star Wars: A New Hope In Concert
Got this one from my father-in-law, Bob-A Fett. If you’re in the Chattanooga area, the symphony is doing Star Wars at the end of the month.
LEGO Teams With Star Wars For AI-Powered Smart Brick Tech
Oh sure, AI-powered LEGO sounds like a good idea now. Just wanted until your AI-powered LEGO HK-47 gains sentience and starts slaughtering meatbags.
Star Wars’ Most Divisive Character Gets His Redemption in New Comic First Look (Exclusive)
Justice for (Darth) Jar Jar! I’ve mentioned before I’m not a comic book guy, but I think I am going to get this one.
Star Wars: Starfighter Wraps: Goes Into Post-Production
This Day in Star Wars History
Two births and the O.G. Disney ride happening today, January 9th.
Actress Ann Firbank was born in 1933, in what was then called British India. Firbank’s one role in the Star Wars universe was playing the elderly woman at the end of Rise of Skywalker who asks Rey Palpatine Skywalker why on earth she’s wandering around Tatooine.
Voice actor Philip Tanzini was born in 1967. Tanzini voiced Jedi Apprentice Jaden Korr in the videogame Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy. The character of Korr is kind of interesting, in that he started out in a videogame but made the jump to Expanded Universe books, showing up in Legacy of the Force and the Fate of the Jedi series, along with a few standalone books. All of these are at the end of the Expanded Universe timeframe.
Disney’s original Star Wars ride, Star Tours, opened at Disneyland in 1987. The ride replaced the Adventure Thru Inner Space ride, which was sponsored by Monsanto. And that just feels like a joke from The Simpsons. Paul Ruebens, AKA Pee Wee Herman voiced RX-24, the pilot droid. The original Star Tours closed in 2010, but the internet is forever.
From the Depths of Wookieepedia
Two food entries, two weeks in a row? I’ll take it. This week we’ve got Skycorn. Which is corn, but in space.
Skycorn was an edible crop and a type of corn. The Erso family farmed skycorn at their homestead on the planet Lah’mu before Galen Erso was captured by the Galactic Empire
In corn exists in the Star Wars universe, does this also mean that elotes exists? I’d like to think that it does.
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.
The article is paywalled, but it’s easy enough to find an archive.is link. Like this one.
Starting the year with a semi-obscure Simpsons reference. I’m so back, baby.
Kathleen Kennedy retires like Warren Buffett.
I don’t think Kathleen Kennedy deserves the hate she gets, and I think there’s context that matters here.
Star Wars changed ownership structures, not just leadership. Lucas could self-fund whatever he wanted. Disney answers to quarterly earnings. That’s a fundamentally different game, and it changes what’s creatively possible.
The Disney+ flood wasn’t Kennedy’s call; that was platform strategy from above. Did overexposure hurt the brand? Absolutely. But structurally that’s what happens when a privately-held IP becomes a publicly-traded earnings driver. And here’s the thing people miss: for Gen Alpha, this *is* their Star Wars. My son grew up on these shows. Grogu was his Star Wars, and that matters.
The sequel trilogy is mixed, no question. Force Awakens worked. The second film fractured the direction. The third couldn’t recover. But that’s what happens when you don’t have a unified plan under corporate constraints. It’s a structural problem more than a single producer’s failure.
What gets overlooked is the upside. Without Kennedy we don’t get Rogue One as it turned out, and we absolutely don’t get Andor.
George Lucas would never have made Andor. It’s anti-merch, politically sharp, artistically mature in ways Star Wars almost never is. That show alone justifies her tenure in my book.
Is everything perfect? Not even close. Book of Boba Fett was a miss. But when you look at the full balance sheet, it’s way more positive than people admit.
Mandalorian and Grogu aren’t going anywhere, and honestly, that’s fine. They’re modern pulp: Flash Gordon for kids. That’s what Star Wars has always been at its core.
I think history will be kinder to Kathleen Kennedy than the internet is today.