By George & Josh Bate
Adam Driver has just dropped a bombshell for Star Wars fans to feast on.
In a recent interview with the Associated Press, the Kylo Ren actor revealed the details of a canceled Star Wars movie we previously had no idea about.
The film was titled The Hunt for Ben Solo and would have taken place after The Rise of Skywalker, thus presumably reviving Driver’s fan-favorite villain-turned-hero. “I always was interested in doing another ‘Star Wars,’” said Driver. “I had been talking about doing another one since 2021. 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.”
Driver himself approached renowned director Steven Soderbergh to helm the film as he believed “there was unfinished business for Kylo Ren.” Soderbergh is known for directing the Ocean’s trilogy, Traffic, Magic Mike, Contagion, Logan Lucky, and Erin Brokovich.
Soderbergh and Rebecca Blunt developed a story that they then pitched to group then pitched to Kennedy, Lucasfilm vice president Cary Beck, and Lucasfilm chief creative officer Dave Filoni. Scott Z. Burns, who is known for writing The Bourne Ultimatum and Side Effects, was brought in to flesh out the story into a full script.
Driver said the script was “one of the coolest (expletive) scripts I had ever been a part of.” Quite the statement from an actor who has worked with Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Noah Baumbach, and Ridley Scott.
“We presented the script to Lucasfilm,” described Driver. “They loved the idea. They totally understood our angle and why we were doing it. 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.”
“It was called ‘The Hunt for Ben Solo’ and it was really cool,” adds Driver. “But it is no more, so I can finally talk about it.”
Associated Press received a statement from Soderbergh about the movie, who said: “I really enjoyed making the movie in my head. I’m just sorry the fans won’t get to see it.”
For now, it looks like The Hunt for Ben Solo will not come to fruition, but you never know in a galaxy far, far away. This is the franchise that revived The Clone Wars years after its cancelation, continued George Lucas’ Skywalker saga, and already has a multitude of other plans to develop stories beyond the sequel trilogy, namely 2027’s Star Wars: Starfighter.
