--- name: "Jon Kasdan" canonical: "https://film.one/person/jon-kasdan" fi1m_id: "jon-kasdan" imdb_id: "nm0440459" tmdb_id: 30368 wikidata_id: "Q132058" roles: ["Writer","Director"] born: "30 September 1979" reviewed_on_fi1m: 5 average_as: "writer" average_over: 1 updated: "2026-10-07T14:32:39.145146+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Jon Kasdan ## Identity Jon Kasdan - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/jon-kasdan - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** jon-kasdan - **IMDb ID:** nm0440459 - **TMDB ID:** 30368 - **Wikidata ID:** Q132058 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Kasdan, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q132058, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0440459/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/30368 Writer and director. Born 30 September 1979 in Los Angeles, California, USA. ## Details - **Work:** Writer, Director - **Born:** 30 September 1979, Los Angeles, California, USA - **Active:** 1983–2018 - **Also known as:** 乔纳森·卡斯丹, Jonathan Kasdan - **Titles on Fi1m:** 5: 3 acting, 1 directing, 1 writing - **Frequently works with:** [Jake Kasdan](https://film.one/person/jake-kasdan.md) - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1980s 72 (2), 1990s 88 (1), 2000s 63 (1), 2010s 58 (1) - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Kasdan, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q132058, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0440459/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/30368 ## Streaming the US now - **Paramount+:** [*Freaks and Geeks*](https://film.one/tv/freaks-and-geeks.md) (88) - **Tubi:** [*The Big Chill*](https://film.one/film/the-big-chill.md) (67) - **Hulu:** [*Californication*](https://film.one/tv/californication.md) (63) - **Disney+:** [*Solo: A Star Wars Story*](https://film.one/film/solo-a-star-wars-story.md) (58) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Jon Kasdan > Jon Kasdan writes as a fan with a key to the building: a franchise co-writer who can rebuild someone else's world to the inch and has yet to show us one of his own. The craft is tidy. The reason for the story is usually missing. *Solo: A Star Wars Story* (2018) is built as a heist: a crew, a boss, a job that goes wrong and a bigger job to put it right. Jon Kasdan wrote it with his father Lawrence, and the two of them keep it moving; its 135 minutes rarely drag, and there is a fine Donald Glover and a funny droid along the way. But every scene is there to explain something, how Han met Chewbacca, how he got his ship, how he turned into the man Harrison Ford was playing in 1977, and none of it needed explaining. The film is competent from first shot to last and it is not necessary. He came to it as the most familiar kind of insider. A child actor in his father's films from 1983, he wrote an episode of *Freaks and Geeks* (2000) and several of *Dawson's Creek* (2000–2002) before his writing-directing debut, *In the Land of Women* (2007), and a second small feature about teenagers, *The First Time* (2012). We have not reviewed either, and the critics who did found the first sentimental and too close to the John Hughes template. He directed episodes of *Californication* and *Roadies*, then went back to the house of Lucas for *Solo* and, as creator and showrunner, the *Willow* series (2022–2023), a sequel to the 1988 film made with Warwick Davis in the title part. The pattern is a writer most at ease inside a world someone else built. Kasdan has said that as the son of someone like Larry he is "the most reverent fan ever of their work. And the least", and *Solo* shows the reverent half winning. Reverence has its uses; it is why the heist mechanics sit so neatly under Ron Howard's direction. It is also why the film cannot leave Han alone, and why a man whose appeal in 1977 lay in nobody knowing where he had been arrives with his past fully itemised. We sat through *Solo* waiting to feel something about a boy's first sight of his ship, and felt only a mild, well-mannered interest, because we were being told things, politely, that we had been happier guessing. The small films and the *Freaks and Geeks* episode suggest the interest in teenagers and families is real, not borrowed. His stated hope for *Willow*, to make children laugh and to frighten them, is a better brief than any Han Solo backstory. What we would like from him is the thing he has not yet given us: a story with his own name on the front and nobody's world behind it. Until then he is a reliable pair of hands in other people's houses, which is no small thing in a franchise, though it is not the same as having something to say. ## Biography Jon Kasdan is an American screenwriter, director and actor. Born in Los Angeles on 30 September 1979, he is the son of screenwriter and director Lawrence Kasdan and writer Meg Kasdan (née Goldman), and the brother of director and actor Jake Kasdan. Kasdan's first professional writing credit was on the television series *Freaks and Geeks* (1999), for which he received story and teleplay credits on one episode. He later wrote episodes of *Dawson's Creek* and contributed to series including *Californication* and *Roadies*. His feature screenwriting credits include *In the Land of Women* (2007) and *The First Time* (2012), both of which he also directed. Kasdan co-wrote the screenplay for *Solo: A Star Wars Story* (2018) with his father and wrote for the series *Willow* (2022). He made his acting debut as a child in his father's film *The Big Chill* (1983) and has appeared in several other productions. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (5) ### Performed in (3) - *Freaks and Geeks* (1999), Fi1m 88, as Tommy — [page](https://film.one/tv/freaks-and-geeks.md) - *The Accidental Tourist* (1988), Fi1m 78, as Boy at Doctor's Office — [page](https://film.one/film/the-accidental-tourist.md) - *The Big Chill* (1983), Fi1m 67, as Harold and Sarah's Son — [page](https://film.one/film/the-big-chill.md) ### Directed (1) - *Californication* (2007), Fi1m 63, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/californication.md) ### Wrote (1) — the average rests on these - *Solo: A Star Wars Story* (2018), Fi1m 58, as Tag Greenley (uncredited) — [page](https://film.one/film/solo-a-star-wars-story.md) ## Complete filmography (17) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Willow: Behind the Magic* (2023), Executive Producer - *Willow* (2022), series, Writer, Executive Producer, Creator - *Solo: A Star Wars Story* (2018), as Tag Greenley (uncredited) · Writer, Co-Producer — Fi1m 58, [page](https://film.one/film/solo-a-star-wars-story.md) - *Roadies* (2016), series, Director - *The First Time* (2012), Director, Writer - *Californication* (2007), series, Director — Fi1m 63, [page](https://film.one/tv/californication.md) - *In the Land of Women* (2007), Writer, Director - *Dreamcatcher* (2003), as Defuniak - *Big Trouble* (2002), as Jack Pendick Trainee - *Slackers* (2002), as Barry - *Freaks and Geeks* (1999), series, as Tommy · Story, Teleplay — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/tv/freaks-and-geeks.md) - *Dawson's Creek* (1998), series, as Gawky-Looking Kid · Writer - *I Love You to Death* (1990), as Dominic Boca - *The Accidental Tourist* (1988), as Boy at Doctor's Office — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/film/the-accidental-tourist.md) - *Silverado* (1985), as Boy at Outpost - *The Big Chill* (1983), as Harold and Sarah's Son — Fi1m 67, [page](https://film.one/film/the-big-chill.md) - *Rager*, Director, Screenplay --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/jon-kasdan