The new movies of Star Wars have told a complete story, yet actor Adam Driver wanted to make his own film for his character. The plans for it were even quite advanced before Disney put a stop to it.
Spoiler: We reveal details about Star Wars: Episode 9 and the character Kylo Ren in the article. If you don’t want to know anything about it, you should stop reading here.
Adam Driver played the antagonist Kylo Ren in the sequels of Star Wars, namely episodes 7-9. It turns out that he is Ben Solo, the son of Han and Leia. He was trained as a Jedi by Luke Skywalker but fell to the Dark Side and served initially Snoke, and later the Emperor, during the films.
At the end of Episode 9, the Resistance wins and Kylo Ren must meet his end. But not before performing a good deed: he saves Rey’s life with a kiss. Thus, his story would actually be concluded, yet Adam Driver wanted it to continue.
As he revealed six years after Episode 9 in an interview, there were concrete plans and even a director for another film.
The Hunt for Ben Solo
What did the plans look like? Driver told in an interview with The Associated Press that he was very interested in making another film in the Star Wars universe. Since 2021, he had been playing with this idea and would have been ready to return to the role of Kylo Ren, provided there was a good story and an interesting director.
Since Driver was very eager about the project, he took matters into his own hands. He met with director Steven Soderbergh, who directed films like Ocean’s Eleven, Traffic, and Solaris. Together they made Logan Lucky. Driver showed Soderbergh his ideas for a story that should follow Episode 9.
The actor believed that Kylo Ren’s story aka Ben Solo was not yet complete, and there were still things to be done. His development in the sequels was already different than initially thought.
Driver did not reveal what the story looked like. However, the concept also convinced the decision-makers at Lucasfilm, including Kathleen Kennedy (producer), Cary Beck (Lucasfilm vice president), and creative head Dave Filoni.
Screenwriter Scott Z. Burns was commissioned to turn the ideas into a finished script. Said and done: Adam Driver now describes the text as “one of the coolest scripts I’ve ever worked on.”
Why has the film never been released? Fans of Star Wars may rightfully wonder what has happened since 2021 and why the film never made it to theaters. The answer is as simple as it is sad:
We presented the script to Lucasfilm. They really liked the idea. They completely understood our approach and our motives. We presented it to Bob Iger and Alan Bergman (heads of Disney, editor’s note), but they declined. They could not imagine that Ben Solo is still alive. And that was the end of the matter.
Adam Driver
The reason for the rejection also reveals the problem that a sequel with Ben Solo would have: One would have to convincingly explain why he is suddenly alive again. In this aspect, the script apparently could not convince the backers at Disney.
That’s very unfortunate, as Ben Solo, despite all the criticism he has faced over the years, is an intriguing character. A standalone film with him would have made his character even more nuanced and relatable. Unfortunately, the film that would have carried the title The Hunt for Ben Solo will never be released. However, a film with a very similar title is indeed coming to theaters: Gollum film releases timeline, making appearances of all 9 companions possible
