Los Angeles: Hollywood star Adam Driver admitted he was not ready to leave the ‘Star Wars’ universe and pitched ‘Lucasfilm’ and ‘Disney’ a spinoff that would’ve been a direct sequel to 2019’s ‘The Rise of Skywalker’ centred on Kylo Ren.
Ben Solo in the sequel trilogy is the son of original characters Han Solo and Leia Organa, making him the grandson of Anakin Skywalker, also known as Darth Vader. He later turns into the villain Kylo Ren, who has a redemption arc and dies in the conclusion of ‘The Rise of Skywalker’ but Driver didn’t want the story to end there.
“I was always interested in doing another ‘Star Wars’. 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 said in an interview with AP.
Driver detailed a concept for the film, which Steven Soderbergh wrote a script for, which the actor says was ‘one of the coolest (expletive) scripts I had ever been a part of’.
“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,” Driver said.
The film was tentatively titled ‘The Hunt for Ben Solo’ with Driver adding, “But it is no more, so I can finally talk about it.”
In a statement to AP, Soderbergh said, “I really enjoyed making the movie in my head. I’m just sorry the fans won’t get to see it.”
The next ‘Star Wars’ film is ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’, a spinoff of the popular ‘Disney+’ series, which comes out on May 22, 2026. Another film currently in production is ‘Star Wars: Starfighter’, featuring Ryan Gosling. It will release in theatres on May 28, 2027.