The last Star Wars movie to hit theaters was 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker. There was so much toxicity surrounding the sequel trilogy for daring to have a diverse cast and storylines that didn’t cater to the Extremely Online Fanboys, and many of its stars have spoken out about how bad their experience was. While the Poe Dameron and Kylo Ren characters have appeared in Disney+’s animated series Star Wars Resistance, none of the main characters have gotten their own live action spin-off series.
In SWR, Oscar Isaacs returns as Poe, but Adam Driver does not voice Ren. As for the lack of continuation of any of the sequel storylines, I’d just assumed that no one on the studio or the talent end wanted to touch any of that mess. Well, as it turns out, Driver actually did want to revisit his role. In an interview with the AP, he revealed that he approached SW mega producer Kathleen Kennedy about a Kylo Ren/Ben Solo-centric movie titled The Hunt for Ben Solo. He even got Steven Soderbergh to help him develop a script. At the end of the day, however, Lucasfilm was into the idea, Disney was not.
“I always was interested in doing another Star Wars,” Driver told the Associated Press in an interview published Monday. “I had been talking about doing another one since 2021. [Producer] Kathleen [Kennedy] had reached out. I always said: With a great director and a great story, I’d be there in a second. I loved that character and loved playing him.”
After he took an idea to director Steve Soderbergh, with events set after 2019’s Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker, Kennedy and a writer, Scott Z. Burns, of Contagion and The Bourne Ultimatum, got involved too.
“It was called The Hunt for Ben Solo and it was really cool,” Driver said. “But it is no more, so I can finally talk about it.”
Cause of death: rejection.
“We presented the script to Lucasfilm. They loved the idea. They totally understood our angle and why we were doing it,” Driver said. “We took it to Bob Iger and Alan Bergman, and they said no. They didn’t see how Ben Solo was alive. And that was that.”
Entertainment Weekly has reached out to Disney and Lucasfilm for comment on Driver’s remarks.
Soderbergh said in a statement to AP that “I really enjoyed making the movie in my head. I’m just sorry the fans won’t get to see it.”
Driver has previously spoken about his character’s arc having morphed into something else over the course of making the trilogy Driver was involved in. He was originally written as darker and didn’t become softer over time.
“I had an overall arc in mind that [director J.J. Abrams] wanted to do, which, you know, then changed,” Driver said on The Rich Eisen Show in 2024. “His idea was that [Kylo’s] journey was almost the opposite of Vader. Where Vader starts the most confident and the most committed to the dark side, and then by the last movie, he’s the most vulnerable and weak — he wanted to start with the opposite.”
I’m kinda shocked that Disney didn’t take advantage of Steven Soderbergh’s offer to make a Star Wars movie for them, but I’m with Bob Igor and Alan Bergman on this one. The franchise had a good thing going on in 2021 thanks to the popularity of The Mandalorian and its other TV series. They didn’t need more movies. People were finally forgetting about the disastrous way they dropped the ball on The Rise of Skywalker. Why remind them? Hell, even 2025 is too soon to give a crap about Ben Solo.
I suppose whatever happens next will depend on the success of The Mandalorian and Grogu, which comes out in May 2026. That said, I’m so over the Skywalker family saga. I want something new! Let’s explore what Manny Jancinto’s The Stranger/Qimir is up to (RIP The Acolyte). Give me more of the Andor world with a Cleya, Val, or Cinta spinoff. Or, just come up with something else entirely original, like Skeleton Crew. There’s a whole galaxy out there with plenty of stories to be told.
Photos credit: Robert Bell/INSTARimages, Valentina Claret/Avalon, IMAGO/Avalon, Getty