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Kathleen Kennedy Blames Fans, Misogynists, Bots For Star Wars Backlash
Cosmic Book News ^ | January 15, 2026 | Matt McGloin

Posted on 01/16/2026 6:15:07 AM PST by Ciaphas Cain

As Kathleen Kennedy exits Lucasfilm, she’s pointing to fans as the source of Star Wars’ biggest “lows.”

In her Deadline exit interview, when asked about the Star Wars highs and lows, Kennedy responded about the lows and claimed that only a “very, very small percentage” of the Star Wars fanbase caused the backlash that defined much of her tenure.

According to Kennedy, these fans simply wanted “the same thing” and were impossible to satisfy if Lucasfilm chose to go in new creative directions.

“The lows are that you’ve got a very, very small percentage of the fan base that has enormous expectations,” Kennedy said, adding that she wouldn’t change any of the creative decisions she made while running the studio.

A “Small” Group That Shut Down Star Wars for Years

However, Kennedy’s comments immediately raise a credibility problem.

If the backlash truly came from a tiny minority, it’s hard to explain why Star Wars effectively disappeared from theaters for seven years after The Rise of Skywalker.

It also doesn’t explain why Lucasfilm reduced budgets and content on Disney+.

Disney didn’t pause theatrical releases and reduce content because of a fringe audience. The hiatus followed declining box office returns, stalled projects, and sustained audience pushback from a majority of fans.

Studios don’t freeze billion‑dollar franchises because of a small number of loud voices online.

(Excerpt) Read more at cosmicbook.news ...


TOPICS: TV/Movies; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: gowokegobroke; hollywood; kathleenkennedy; lucasfilm; movies; starwars; waaambulance

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1 posted on 01/16/2026 6:15:07 AM PST by Ciaphas Cain
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To: Ciaphas Cain
We've seen it before. It seems to be the way Hollywood stars think ---

Movie flops. Explanation is the audiences are evil.

Michael Moore did that a lot.

2 posted on 01/16/2026 6:17:41 AM PST by Salman (Trump is good, but we need Pinochet. )
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To: Ciaphas Cain

Thank you. It was time for a good Kathleen Kennedy article. She’s such a rich target. Arrogant, insulated in a liberal Woke bubble and monumentally incompetent. She doesn’t do enough of these industry gabfests. If she did, we’d have a lot more good content to ridicule because she’s always wrong. What she says here has been asked and answered on internet Star Wars and movie review sites a million times. If its a small, vocal minority, then how can it have such an impact on a multi-billion dollar franchise? The reality is that Kennedy took the most valuable entertainment IP in the history of the world and destroyed it over a period of about 10 years. That will be her legacy.


3 posted on 01/16/2026 6:21:57 AM PST by Opinionated Blowhard (When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.)
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To: Ciaphas Cain

Misogynists, jilted fans, and bots didn’t put out a garbage product. That’s what Star Wars has largely been since George Lucas sold the franchise to Disney, garbage. Andor, and Rogue One were good, not perfect, but still pretty good, overall Star Wars is trash now. The movies and shows are all highly polished junk, and any video games in the franchise pale in comparison to anything Lucas Arts put out back in the day. If they want to scrape a couple bucks out of Star Wars, just put out a despecialized remaster of the original films, before the release in the 1990s when George Lucas had bad CGI and a little bit of dialogue replacement put in.


4 posted on 01/16/2026 6:22:19 AM PST by Antihero101607
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To: Ciaphas Cain

The stories just aren’t plausible anymore.


5 posted on 01/16/2026 6:23:55 AM PST by exPBRrat
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To: Ciaphas Cain

“How do you write women so well?”

“I think of a man and I take away reason and accountability”.
-Melvin Udall (played by Jack Nicholson)
“As Good As It Gets” (1997)


6 posted on 01/16/2026 6:24:30 AM PST by Tom Tetroxide (Psalm 146:3 "Do not trust in princes, in the Son of Man, who has no salvation.")
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To: Ciaphas Cain

iShe destroyed Star Wars with her woke, femnazi BS. She made Luke turn from a hero to someone who would kill his nephew in his sleep.
Han and Leia could not be a happy couple, she destroyed Han from being a hero to a deadbat dad.
Rey was the ultimate Mary Sue and was boring. Cause she would succeed without struggle.
This heifer destroyed Mandalorian as well.
The last series will the lesbian space witches was unwatchable.
Nothing but perfect females. Andor she ignored, so it was very good.
I hope Disney goes under


7 posted on 01/16/2026 6:24:39 AM PST by 1ScrappyArmyMom
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To: Ciaphas Cain

Take away reason and accountability, then put them in charge of a billion worth of IP.

Sell Disney


8 posted on 01/16/2026 6:24:46 AM PST by RinaseaofDs (Imagine what we'll know tomorrow.)
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To: 1ScrappyArmyMom

Plus Disney took a huge loss on the Star Wars hotel. Basing it n Kennedyscrap heroes and not classic Star Wars classics


9 posted on 01/16/2026 6:26:45 AM PST by 1ScrappyArmyMom
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To: Antihero101607

To Lucasfilm’s credit, they are re-releasing the original pre-tinkering A New Hope in theaters next year for its fiftieth anniversary. Maybe if enough fans flock to see it (and they really might do that) then Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi will get their original versions released too. Perhaps even released on Blu-ray (which would make a LOT of fans happy, including me).


10 posted on 01/16/2026 6:27:46 AM PST by Ciaphas Cain
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To: Ciaphas Cain

I have not kept up with the world of Star Wars.So maybe I’m missing something.

But how can she blame a small minority of fans for troubles with the Star Wars franchise?

If a small minority of fans didn’t like the new movies or storylines, but the vast majority of fans did like them, there wouldn’t be a problem would there?

Isn’t the real problem that big numbers of Star Wars fans were turned off by what she had done?


11 posted on 01/16/2026 6:30:24 AM PST by Dilbert San Diego
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To: Opinionated Blowhard

The South Park panderverse episode on Kennedy finished her off. It was hilarious. “Put a chick in it! Make her lame and gay!”)

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/south-park-disney-kathleen-kennedy-gina-carano-1235632407/


12 posted on 01/16/2026 6:32:39 AM PST by DeplorablePaul
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To: Antihero101607
"That’s what Star Wars has largely been since George Lucas sold the franchise to Disney"

It's been garbage since Lucas gave us teddy bears (Ewoks) and a rehash of the original film in "Return of the Jedi" (1983). When "Attack of the Clones" came out in 2002, it was obvious that Lucas had no idea what he was doing, and that it wasn't going to get better.

13 posted on 01/16/2026 6:34:12 AM PST by Sicon ("All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." - G. Orwell)
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To: Dilbert San Diego
If a small minority of fans didn’t like the new movies or storylines, but the vast majority of fans did like them, there wouldn’t be a problem would there?

She means the "vocal" fans, influencers, and online reviewers.

I effectively watched all eight episodes of "The Acolyte" by viewing online reviews. They were hilariously woke!

Regards,

14 posted on 01/16/2026 6:37:44 AM PST by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
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To: Sicon

I enjoyed Return of the Jedi, but the more I think about it, The Empire Strikes Back is probably the best of the original trilogy.


15 posted on 01/16/2026 6:49:42 AM PST by OttawaFreeper ("The Gardens was founded by men-sportsmen-who fought for their country" Conn Smythe, 1966 )
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To: Ciaphas Cain

"Put a chick in it, and make it lame and gay!"

16 posted on 01/16/2026 6:50:56 AM PST by Ronaldus Magnus
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To: Ciaphas Cain

17 posted on 01/16/2026 6:51:07 AM PST by dfwgator ("I am Charlie Kirk!")
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To: Ciaphas Cain

Kathleen Kennedy used to take notes at Steven Spielberg meets and he said she couldn’t even do that right


18 posted on 01/16/2026 6:52:10 AM PST by butlerweave (Fateh)
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To: Ciaphas Cain

Blaming the audience. It sort of gives added meaning to the term “breaking the 4th wall”.


19 posted on 01/16/2026 6:53:20 AM PST by Telepathic Intruder
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To: Ciaphas Cain

Re re re releases will destroy boxoff numbers for all recent releases😂


20 posted on 01/16/2026 6:53:26 AM PST by blitz128
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