Does It Matter That Kevin Feige Is Not Involved In 'Star Wars' TV Shows?

When in autumn of 2019 Disney’s Chief Creative Officer Alan Horn more or less confirmed that Kevin Feige, President of Marvel Studios, was in serious talks of creating a Star Wars movie, even respectable news outlets were discordant on what this would mean for the future of the franchise and Lucasfilm Ltd as a company. Some thought (or hoped) that he would take on a similar role as he already had at Marvel Studios, probably even switching franchises and working as a kind of uber-showrunner for future Star Wars movies. Others were quick to assume that he would replace Kathleen Kennedy as head of Lucasfilm. Still, others didn’t read that much into this news, believing that Feige, as a long-term fan, would just write and/or direct and/or produce a Star Wars movie, as a kind of labor of love.

It recently became clear that it will indeed be just the latter, as Feige said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that he has no plans to push further into the Star Wars universe, beyond that one movie he is developing for Lucasfilm.

"No. That's all Kathy Kennedy. I'm involved in as much as I stay up until midnight L.A. time to watch new episodes of The Mandalorian when they drop."

There has been no official confirmation on what Feige’s role in this movie will actually be, but in January of 2021, it was reported that Michael Waldron (who is also working with the MCU mastermind on the upcoming Loki series and also on Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness) will be writing the script for Feige’s movie. And as he is not a director, but a producer, it seems fair to assume that he will also take this role in the upcoming Star Wars movie.

Feige’s statement shouldn’t come as a big surprise, as he is still very much involved in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After the climactic Endgame and the end of phase 3, the MCU only got bigger, with not only a bunch of upcoming movies, but also with a whole slate of TV shows (the first two WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier have made their way onto Disney+, and at least four more shows are coming out in 2021 alone), so Feige is and undoubtfully will be quite busy with his job at Marvel for the foreseeable future, and taking a similar role for the Star Wars franchise would probably be too much of a commitment.

But does Star Wars even need a Kevin Feige in a George Lucas-like role?

Lucasfilm’s cinematic plans for the galaxy far, far away are in a kind of a hiatus right now. Patty Jenkins’ Rogue Squadron is slated for a release in December of 2023, Taika Waititi is confirmed to do another movie (probably for 2025), and Feige’s film could come out in December of 2027, but it could be the other way around. And then there is of course still Rian Johnson’s trilogy (if and when it will ever be made). But it seems that all these endeavors won’t have that much in common when it comes to a common story or timeline, but will rather be stand-alone projects. The big juggernaut, where a person in Feige’s role would have been desperately needed – the sequel trilogy – is done, and there seem to be no plans for the foreseeable future to continue the stories of Rey, Poe, and Finn, at least not on the big screen. The upcoming movies surely will have some connective tissue, but they probably won’t be a big cohesive story as the Skywalker saga has been (or should have been) and the MCU still is.

And looking at the various TV projects that Lucasfilm has announced for Disney+, it seems that the role that Kevin Feige could have played for Lucasfilm is already taken by Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, helming not only The Mandalorian, but also the upcoming shows The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka, and Rangers of the New Republic. And Filoni probably also has his fingers in the animated The Bad Batch series. Dave Filoni has proven more than once that he is absolutely capable of connecting different characters and storylines into one big adventure, with The Clone Wars, Rebels, and The Mandalorian. As for Star Wars’ other upcoming shows like Andor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Lando, or The Acolyte – these again take place at various times in Star Wars history and therefore probably don’t need an overall mastermind, who makes sure that all the different threads lead into one cohesive story.

As tempting as it would be to have a single person overseeing all the different Star Wars projects both for the big and the small screen, as George Lucas has been and Feige undoubtfully could be if he didn’t have his involvement with the MCU, it seems that he isn’t “the only hope” for the galaxy far, far away right now. And so it seems we can all lean back and look forward to seeing what a Kevin Feige-produced Star Wars movie will turn out to be.

Written By Gerald Petschk

Source(s): Entertainment Weekly, Screen Rant

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