The Star Wars universe is now being led by an actual commander.
Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy was made an honorary Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire on Thursday night for her decades of work bringing film projects to the United Kingdom.
The private ceremony was held at the home of British diplomat Michael Howells, Her Majesty’s Consul General in Los Angeles, and attended by a small group of filmmaking luminaries. “I appreciate there’s a little bit of competition in the garden tonight, so forgive me, but this is my opinion: Kathleen Kennedy has produced, I think, pretty much all of the most well-loved and impactful films,” Howells said in his introduction. “It’s maybe a measure of your genius, Kathy, that all of those films they feel somehow as they were made just for me.”
Among the guests were Star Wars composer John Williams, The Empire Strikes Back and The Force Awakens screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan, and The Last Jedi writer-director Rian Johnson. They were joined by director Deborah Chow, who is working on the new Obi-Wan Kenobi series, The Mandalorian directors Rick Famuyiwa and Bryce Dallas Howard, and The Rise of Skywalker second unit director Victoria Mahoney, producer Michelle Rejwan and screenwriter Chris Terrio.
Other attendees included Disney CEO Robert Iger, Disney studio chief Alan Horn, and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, who recently signed on to produce an upcoming Star Wars film, and Tomi Adeyemi, author of the fantasy novel Children of Blood and Bone, which Lucasfilm and Fox is producing as a feature film.
Befitting someone who just made an alliance with the Empire, Kennedy began her speech by asserting dominance.
“I want to make sure that I follow protocol here, but the first thing I’m going to say is there’s several of you out there that have not been treating me with the proper respect,” she joked. “I mean, on occasion I would mention that I was getting this, and there would be a lot of laughing. So I just want it to be a little bit more somber.”
Kathleen Kennedy speaks at the British Consulate after receiving the CBE.
By Michael Kovac/Getty Images.It is not specifically a knighthood, but she does share the CBE with a Jedi. “I never imagined that I would grow up to become an Honorary Commander of the Most Excellent Order, and to stand alongside Obi-Wan Kenobi, Sir Alec Guinness, who first received this honor around the time I was born, I have officially exceeded my dreams,” Kennedy said.