Kathleen Kennedy Finally Admits Which Star Wars Film She Regrets—Fans Aren’t Surprised

Alright, folks, Kathleen Kennedy is finally talking, and she's got some thoughts about her time running Lucasfilm. After over a decade calling the shots on Star Wars (and, yeah, Indiana Jones too), Kennedy is getting ready to step back — and for once, she's actually admitting there are a couple things she might've done differently.

The One Star Wars Movie Kennedy Wishes She Could Mulligan

If you were hoping she regrets anything about the sequels, keep dreaming. But when pressed to name a project she kinda wishes she could take back or do better, Kennedy pointed right at Solo: A Star Wars Story. Here's her vibe on it:

'No, I don’t really have any regrets. Well, maybe a bit of regret about Solo: A Star Wars Story.'

So what went sideways? According to Kennedy, the movie kicked off with a lot of creative energy. She even had Lawrence Kasdan — as in, Empire Strikes Back Kasdan — in the mix. But as things got moving, real talk set in: you just can't ask audiences to accept a new Han Solo, at least not when Harrison Ford is still so fresh in everyone's mind. It became, in her words, a 'fundamental, conceptual problem.'

The regret, she says, isn't about how the film was made or the casting. She went out of her way to defend Alden Ehrenreich's work taking over as Han:

'As wonderful as Alden Ehrenreich was, and he really was good, and is a wonderful actor, we put him in an impossible situation.'

Basically, the main issue was jumping into a Han Solo spin-off too soon after the character's legacy was still anchored to Ford. She summed it up as a problem of timing, not execution:

'I just think that conceptually, we did it too soon.'

No Regret About Indy 5, And She'll Tell You Why

On the flip side, Kennedy doesn't lose sleep over Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny — even though a bunch of people will never let the "should Indiana Jones have ended with four?" debate die. Kennedy made it clear she stands by that last adventure:

'No, no. I have no regrets about that because Harrison wanted to do that more than anything.'

She doubled down on it being Ford's call — he simply didn't want Indy's story to wrap up with Crystal Skull. So, they gave him another shot in the hat and, in her mind, that was absolutely the right move. No hand-wringing here.

Passing the Torch

• Kennedy is moving out of the Lucasfilm captain's chair.
• Dave Filoni (guy behind all the Mandalorian/Clone Wars stuff) will handle the creative side.
• Lynwen Brennan is taking over the business and operational matters.

As the Star Wars universe gets handed off to its next generation of leadership, it's at least interesting to hear Kennedy get a little candid about what worked — and more specifically, what didn't. Also, for the record: she's not blaming the fans, the directors, or the cast. Just sometimes, even in mega-franchises, timing really is everything.