Kathleen Kennedy

While fans from around the world have gathered to share their love of Star Wars at this year’s Star Wars Celebration, there has been one sobering element to the festivities. The loss of Carrie Fisher has been felt at every level of the convention, from Thursday’s bittersweet memorial video put together by Lucasfilm to the sadness felt while Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson shared his behind-the-scenes footage from the set. And since this is a convention of all things Star Wars, fans have also speculated about the role the actress might play in the next film. Is there a place for Fisher in Star Wars: Episode 9?

Fans are never satisfied. Here we are, finally enjoying the first batch of footage from Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and we’re already wondering about Star Wars: Episode 9 and beyond. The resurgence of Luke Skywalker in particular has us wondering a bit about the franchise’s endgame. The Star Wars movies have always been tied to the emotional journeys of one father and one son; can this universe maintain a new Skywalker narrative after the main one is complete? Or will Star Wars: Episode 9 bring this chapter in the Star Wars universe to a close?

This year’s Star Wars Celebration will take place in Orlando (good news for those of you who couldn’t make it across the pond last year), and as it’s the 40th anniversary of the iconic franchise, you can expect some pretty major things. While we wait to learn more about Lucasfilm’s plans for the 2017 convention, the studio has unveiled a beautiful new poster along with a few details regarding the first panel of the year.

Without knowing the scope of Carrie Fisher’s role in the upcoming Star Wars sequels, it’s difficult to speculate about how Lucasfilm might address her recent passing. But a new report has uncovered key details (and potential spoilers) regarding General Leia’s narrative arc in Episodes VIII and IX, and reveals that Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy is planning to meet with director Colin Trevorrow next week to contemplate their options for Leia’s role in the forthcoming sequels.

While Rogue One is just a standalone and won’t be getting a sequel (you could argue that the original trilogy is technically all the sequel it needs), Saw Gerrera, one of the more intriguing characters in the movie, will be back for more projects in the Star Wars universe.

After nearly 40 years, 9 directors, and 8 films with three more on the way, not one Star Wars movie has been directed by a woman. Will that change any time soon

With Rogue One in theaters now (go go go!), fans are already turning their attention to the next round of Star Wars movies because pop culture isn’t about what’s new — it’s about what’s next. Lucky for you, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy has a couple of brief updates on the next installments in the franchise: Episode VIII and the Han Solo spinoff. It’s just enough to keep you satisfied until Monday, probably, when someone else will undoubtedly say something interesting about the Star Wars franchise.

Earlier this week, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy made headlines when she suggested that the time was not quite right for a female Star Wars director. In our own write-up of her comments, we noted that the reasoning behind Kennedy’s comments was sound, if not a little depressing: there’s an added degree of pressure on any female director, and the last thing Kennedy wants to do is put someone in a situation where they cannot succeed. Still, with so many male filmmakers seemingly being thrust from anonymity to nine-figure productions, Kennedy’s comments also hinted at an institutional double-standard that is a source of frustration to so many.

Look, pretty much every Star Wars fan with functioning brain cells knows that there won’t be a sequel to Rogue One, but there’s an unspoken (and kind of dumb) rule in any setting which involves people asking questions and receiving answers about movies: If it can be asked, someone will ask it, especially if it’s a question with a really obvious answer — like “will there be a sequel to Rogue One?”

Colin Trevorrow, Jordan Vogt-Roberts and Josh Trank are just a few of the names among those that have transitioned from acclaimed first-time indie filmmakers to first-time blockbuster directors. The list of filmmakers who have made that giant leap includes very few women, and it’s something that Disney and subsidiaries Lucasfilm and Marvel Studios have been working to address. Change comes slowly, and it’s been even slower for Star Wars, which has yet to hire a woman to direct any of their upcoming films. While it’s definitely a priority for Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, we might have to wait a bit longer for it to happen.