After 'Rise of Skywalker' and Baby Yoda, Kathleen Kennedy's plan for 'Star Wars' and beyond
SAN FRANCISCO - Rob Bredow, head of Lucasfilm's visual effects division Industrial Light & Magic, came to Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy in early 2018 with a bold idea for filming Jon Favreau's upcoming TV series, "The Mandalorian."
The filmmakers wanted to use what they'd been calling the "stage of the future": a set wrapped in LED screens to create the virtual backgrounds for the show.
The company had used the technique previously to create the Millennium Falcon's Kessel Run in "Solo: A Star Wars Story" but never at the scale Bredow was proposing.
Kennedy, however, recalled her days working on Steven Spielberg's "Jurassic Park," which was greenlighted before they were even certain that visual effects technology could create a believable Tyrannosaurus rex.
"She said, 'There have been a few times in my career where there have been these kinds of moments. Go for it,'" Bredow recalled in the cafeteria of Lucasfilm's San Francisco headquarters. "She, and we, are looking for those opportunities to break new ground."
By all accounts, the gamble on "The Mandalorian" has paid off for Lucasfilm since it debuted to an
