George Lucas and Kathleen Kennedy on what next for Star Wars.

Here’s the double interview with George Lucas and Kathleen Kennedy on their plans for Star Wars as part of the House of Mouse. Now, the really interesting thing here is that with George taking a much more back seat semi-retirement role with Star Wars, how far Kathleen K. is in the driving seat.

Kathleen was, of course, the producer behind E.T and the first three Jurassic Park films as well as the co-founder of Amblin Entertainment with Steven Spielberg, so she has cut her teeth on Hollywood and been left with the bleeding gums to prove it.

If you want to know the future direction of Star Wars, methinks the old adage at Skywalker Ranch… “See what George thinks” has now been replaced by “Ask Kathleen”… and not just because she’s the official brand manager of the Star Wars ‘franchise’ (if I may make the Star Wars films sound like a Hamburger shop for rent to the right owner).

She’s been the US producer for some of the excellent Studio Ghibli anime movies as well as EP on Schindler’s List, and produced one of my favourite films, the much under-appreciated Munich (as moving as Schindler’s List, if not more so, dealing with the terrible human cost of Mossad’s assassination programme).

So… is Star Wars in safe hands? We think so!