Star Wars: Adam Driver was rejected for a project focused on Ben Solo

It’s a movie that fans of star wars We will never see it (warning, spoilers). Adam Driver spoke to the agency Associated Press in a film project he describes as “one of the coolest scripts” he’s ever been involved with.

For two years, Oscar-winning actor and director Steven Soderbergh, 41, worked hard on The hunt for Ben Soloa feature film that would have continued the story of Kylo Ren after the events of The Rise of Skywalker. But Disney decided otherwise.

In 2021, Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm, contacted Adam Driver. Then, the actor confided that with “a great director and a great story,” he would be ready to return “in a second” to the universe. star wars.

Reviving Ben Solo

The actor, who played Ben Solo, also known as Kylo Ren, in the last trilogy, had never digested the abrupt end of his character. The film would have followed Kylo Ren’s quest for redemption after The Rise of Skywalkerwhere the character dies after sacrificing himself to save Rey.

Adam Driver turns to Steven Soderbergh, the director of Traffic and frankness from the ocean. Together, they created a precise vision: a “character-driven” film, comparable to The empire strikes backthat the actor considers “the reference point” of what a film should be star wars. To develop the project, Soderbergh called on Rebecca Blunt, screenwriter of lucky loganbefore Scott Z. Burns joined the team to write the final script.

If Kathleen Kennedy, Dave Filoni (Lucasfilm creative director) and Cary Beck (vice president) “love the idea” and “totally understand” the chosen angle, Disney rejects the project. Disney CEO Bob Iger and Alan Bergman don’t see “how Ben Solo can be alive.”

false starts

This refusal is part of a long list of projects star wars canceled or frozen in recent years. Of The Rise of Skywalker In 2019, the franchise is struggling to regain its momentum on the big screen. Disney and Lucasfilm experienced a series of false starts before arriving at the only two films currently scheduled: The Mandalorian and Grogu AND starfighter.

On the small screen, the saga continues. series like Andor EITHER The Mandalorian proved that a more intimate, character-driven approach found its audience. This is precisely the path that Adam Driver and Steven Soderbergh wanted to take with The hunt for Ben Solo: return to the essence of the original space opera, far from formatted productions. Lucasfilm declined to comment on this matter.