A new Jedi Master for ‘Star Wars’?

Hey there, Popculturology friends. Welcome to the Friday newsletter.

Are you ready to believe that now is the time that Kathleen Kennedy is going to step down from her perch at the top of Lucasfilm? How about whether or not a cereal that isn’t fruit-flavored or loop-shaped can be a Froot Loop?

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The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast names its next wave of Criterion shorts

A running bit on The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast has been the topic of which Digital Shorts deserved to be included in a Criterion collection of shorts. (The actual Criterion Collection is not associated with this push.) After an episode last year that oddly paired up Jake Tapper and Mike Schur to sort through the first batch of 36 Digital Shorts, a new episode of the podcast featured Questlove and Lin-Manuel Miranda judging the next set of 36 shorts.

I gotta say that the most recent Criterion episode was far more enjoyable than the first. Questlove and Miranda are two guys in the trenches of entertainment, both with histories that have intertwined with SNL and its cast. While Schur, a former SNL writer, was a perfect judge for the first Criterion episode, it felt like Tapper was just there because ... he’s famous and declared himself the podcast’s biggest fan? I dunno. (The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast)

BOOK NOOK

Here’s what I’ve been reading this week …

• The Future of Another Timeline (Annalee Newitz)
• There Is No Antimemetic Division (qntm)
• The Hammer of God (Arthur C. Clarke)

I guess I’m working backwards through Annalee Newitz’s work after reading Automatic Noodle at the end of 2025? Good stuff, as was There Is No Antimemetic Division from qntm. (There are some great Jeff VanderMeer/Area X vibes in that one.) The latter would’ve definitely made the cut for my favorite books of last year had I read it just a few weeks ago.

• 📖 The Best Book Covers of 2025 (Matt Dorfman, The New York Times): “A lot of book covers look alike on purpose. When a particularly striking image graces a book that catches fire in the hearts and minds of an audience, its aesthetic is inevitably, deliberately applied and reapplied, again and again, until the shorthand exhausts itself. Financially, this logic is airtight. Artistically, it encourages conformity. This is not inherently bad. If a cover invites readers in, the book’s words might open their minds. Everyone wins.”

NEWS, NOTES & TRAILERS

Sounds like Dave Filoni is gonna run Star Wars

It’s the beginning of 2025, and Puck is reporting that Kathleen Kennedy plans to step down from the role of president of Lucasfilm.

It’s the beginning of 2026, and Puck is reporting that Kathleen Kennedy plans to step down from the role of president of Lucasfilm.

Rumors that Kennedy is on her way out as head of the Disney division that produces Star Wars (and Indiana Jones) have swirled for years, often fueled by the trollish fury of “fans” angry that Lucasfilm offended them with movies like The Last Jedi or dared to put female characters at the forefront of the stories being told in the franchise.

But this time, this report sounds legit.