History repeats itself, even in the Star Wars universe. While Kylo Ren started out as the main villain in the Sequel Trilogy, like his grandfather Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, Ben Solo turned away from the Dark Side and died a hero in The Rise of Skywalker. But as it turns out, Adam Driver didn’t want his character’s story to end there. The actor’s revealed that he tried to get a post-Rise of Skywalker Kylo Ren feature on the upcoming Star Wars movies slate, and he even had a stellar director attached to helm it.
While speaking with The Associated Press, Driver mentioned that he’d been interested in doing another Star Wars movie since 2021, as he felt there was “unfinished business” with Kylo Ren. Driver took a concept to director Steven Soderbergh, who then crafted a story outline with Rebecca Blunt to pitch to Lucasfilm. When executives Kathleen Kennedy, Cary Beck and Dave Filoni responded positively to the idea, Soderbergh and Blunt recruited Scott Z. Burns to write what driver described as “one of the coolest (expletive) scripts I had ever been a part of.” However, the project was killed off soon afterwards, with the Ferrari star recalling:
We presented the script to Lucasfilm. 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. But it is no more, so I can finally talk about it.
Adam Driver didn’t reveal any specific plot details about The Hunt for Ben Solo aside from the fact that it would have seen the son of Han Solo and Leia Organa somehow resurrected. Although there have been a handful of instances where Star Wars characters thought dead were revealed to be alive, including Palpatine transferring his consciousness into a clone body, having Ben Solo’s body reconstituted in full is would have been quite the sight. And with a title like The Hunt for Ben Solo, evidently there would have been many interested parties after him, for better or worse.
I’m not that surprised Adam Driver reached out to Steven Soderbergh to help work on The Hunt for Ben Solo, as the two previously worked together on 2017’s Logan Lucky. I certainly would have welcomed seeing his filmmaking sensibilities applied to a galaxy far, far away, but Disney head honchos Bob Iger and Alan Horn felt it didn’t make any sense to tell this kind of story. Soderbergh said the following in a statement to AP:
I really enjoyed making the movie in my head. I’m just sorry the fans won’t get to see it.
So unlike what Adam Driver hoped would happen with Ben Solo, it doesn’t sound like we can ever expect for this particular Star Wars movie idea to be resurrected. Unfortunately, although the Rey movie set 15 years after The Rise of Skywalker is still in development, don’t expect Driver to cameo in that as a Force Ghost. The Girls alum said in 2024 that he’s finished with the Star Wars franchise.
The next Star Wars movie up is The Mandalorian & Grogu, which opens May 22 on the 2026 movies schedule. Then Star Wars: Starfighter will follow on May 28, 2027. Adam Driver can next be seen in Father Mother Sister Brother, which opens in theaters on December 24.
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