Kathleen Kennedy Reveals Star Wars: The Force Awakens Continues Skywalker Saga
Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy dropped a few very interesting tidbits in a recent interview with Costco Connection magazine about Star Wars: The Force Awakens. When George Lucas handpicked Kennedy to succeed him after the sale of Lucasfilm to The Walt Disney Company in 2012, Kennedy was stunned. “When George asked me I was completely unprepared and surprised because we had just gone out to have lunch together, I thought,” Kennedy told The Connection.” “We were discussing family and what we had been up to and just the normal kind of conversation that we would have getting together after a few months of not talking to one another. And he said to me, ‘I assume you've heard that I am retiring.”
Although initially hesitant, Kennedy had the necessary chops. She’d produced everything from E.T. and the Indiana Jones quartet to Jurassic Park, but the sheer scope of the Star Wars was daunting. To get a grasp on Lucas's universe, Kennedy needed to spend a lot of time listening to the people at Lucasfilm who are “like walking encyclopedias,” and talk to Lucas himself as she prepared to assemble a team for the future of Star Wars. The plan they created was to focus on two parallel storylines in two film projects: one would include the “Saga” films (like The Force Awakens), while the second set would serve as the “anthology” films (like Rogue One).
Kennedy told The Costco Connection that the “Saga” films will focus on the Skywalker family saga. “The stories follow a linear narrative that connects to the previous six films. The Force Awakens follows Return of the Jedi and continues that generational story. The Anthology films offer opportunities to explore fresh characters, new storylines and a variety of genres inside the Star Wars universe.”
If you haven’t already wondered why some of the main characters in The Force Awakens don’t have last names listed (like Daisy Ridley’s Rey and John Boyega’s Finn), you may now start to speculate it’s because one or both will be revealed to be Skywalkers. Director J.J. Abrams has also said that Adam Driver’s character, Kylo Ren, was not born with that name—might he be a Skywalker, one lured to the dark side like Anakin was?
As we near the premiere for The Force Awakens (moved to midnight on December 17th), we, and the rest of the Internet, will continue to parse every nugget of information for clues. Whether Kylo Ren’s collecting Darth Vader relics and why, or if John Boyega’s Finn is actually Finn Skywalker, the speculation will continue until we can actually see the film.
Featured image: Star Wars: The Force Awakens Finn (John Boyega) Ph: David James
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