I'm no Kennedy hater, but I'd totally want to see Favreau in a position of more clout and authority in the handling of the SW cinematic galaxy/universe.
Same here. I think Kennedy's tenure has been...fine. Not great, but decent. I think she's had some real management debacles, but also some successes.
At least as far as who their head creative visionary is, I think Favreau could be great, but so could Filioni. Both of those guys "get" Star Wars, in my opinion.
I know it's gonna ruffle feathers, but I think Rian Johnson "gets" Star Wars, too, and sees the risk posed by stagnation. I'm really hoping they still go with his trilogy because I'd like to see what else he could/would do with the franchise.
The way I see it, "Star Wars" is essentially a setting in which you can tell a ton of stories. There are so many more, and more interesting, directions that you can take the franchise than just endlessly reiterating the OT. I think Johnson understands this really well, and tried pushing the envelope, but his vision really did
not mesh with JJ's more "I'm just gonna do what Lucas did, only embiggened" approach. I think there can be a place for that, too (although I hope it would be handled better from a storytelling perspective), but Star Wars needs to evolve, and I think Johnson understands that.