Kathleen Kennedy Says that Recasting Roles Is a Bad Move

Kathleen Kennedy Says that Recasting Roles is a Bad Move

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Despite all the changes and shifts that happened in Lucasfilm, Kathleen Kennedy has managed to “survive” as the president of the company and she is still running the Star Wars franchise in collaboration with Disney, despite many negative comments on her work, as well as some of the recent Star Wars projects. And while Kennedy is certainly responsible for a lot of the franchise’s successes, she has also been blamed for a lot of the failures.

Kennedy is known for voicing her opinion, and her opinions have often been subject to criticism as well, but this has not stopped her from speaking out. Not so long ago, the president of Lucasfilm talked about the issue of recasting popular roles, and from what we can understand, she is not a big fan of the practice.

This was said as a reaction to the relatively lukewarm reception of Solo: A Star Wars Story, which was a spin-off movie that focused on the younger days of Han Solo, one of the series’ most famous characters. It is a known fact there were numerous problems with Alden Ehrenreich, who was cast as a younger version of Harrison Ford’s classic character, during the production and while the fans were not overly critical, they were, more or less, disappointed with the final product.

Reacting to this, Kennedy said: There should be moments along the way when you learn things. Now it does seem so abundantly clear that we can’t do that.” While she has not elaborated further on the statement, it seems that the head of Lucasfilm is against recasting major roles, which would open up space for new characters and actors to appear in the series.

Sometimes, it is necessary through, and there are numerous examples of successful recasting moments within the Star Wars franchise, such as when Ewan McGregor was cast as Obi-Wan Kenobi, replacing the legendary Sir Alec Guinness, or when Ian McDiarmid was brought in to portray The Emperor in Return of the Jedi. So, the franchise has definitely had its success with such endeavors, but Ehrenreich was definitely a flop as far as Kennedy is concerned.

What this means for the future is uncertain, but we have to say that there haven’t been any recasts of old characters since Solo. Sometimes, it is necessary because a younger actor is needed to play the role, or when the original actor or actress dies, but this might suggest that Lucasfilm will focus on creating new characters and stories, thus eliminating the need for recasts in the first place.

The future of the Star Wars franchise is definitely interesting and we are looking forward to all the news, which we are going to bring you here on Fiction Horizon!

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