Fans can now add another title to the long list of Star Wars projects that failed to launch. In an interview with the Associated Press, Adam Driver, who played Kylo Ren (later revealed to be Ben Solo) in the Star Wars sequels that started with The Force Awakens, said he and director Steven Soderbergh spent two years independently developing a Star Wars movie called The Hunt for Ben Solo before presenting it to Lucasfilm and Disney executives.
“It was called The Hunt for Ben Solo and it was really cool,” Driver said. “But it is no more, so I can finally talk about it.”
Daisy Ridley as Rey and Adam Driver as Kylo Ren in The Force Awakens (2015), Lucasfilm
READ: CNN+ Lasted Less Than a Month: Will New Streaming Service CNN All Access Repeat the Same Fate?
When an enthusiastic star and an Academy Award-winning director are unable to sell the executives on another film in an established franchise, it leads us to ask why some stories are “allowed” to exist and others cast aside.
Another Lost Star Wars Film
After 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker, which ended with Ben Solo’s redemption and death, Driver was left unsatisfied with his character’s arc. Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy had discussed with him the possibility of doing another Star Wars movie, and Driver was open to the idea.
“I always said: With a great director and a great story, I’d be there in a second,” he said. “I loved that character and loved playing him.”
Driver had an idea for a movie set after the events of The Rise of Skywalker, which he took to Soderbergh, with whom he’d made 2017’s Logan Lucky. Together, with Soderbergh’s wife, screenwriter Rebecca Blunt, they developed an outline which they presented to Kennedy, Lucasfilm vice president Cary Beck and Lucasfilm chief creative officer Dave Filoni. After receiving positive feedback, frequent Soderbergh collaborator Scott Z Burns was hired to write the script.
Kylo Ren makes an appearance on the Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser – YouTube, Theme Park Review
The Hunt for Ben Solo script, Driver says, was “one of the coolest… scripts I’ve ever been a part of,” adding that Lucasfilm “loved the idea.”
Among the film’s selling points was a reportedly conservative budget.
“We wanted to be judicial about how to spend money and be economical with it,” Driver said, adding, “and do it for less than most but in the same spirit of what those movies are, which is handmade and character-driven,”
Bob Iger via CNBC Television YouTube
READ: The Flash Director Andy Muschietti Blames The Fans for His Movie’s Failure
But when it was taken to Disney brass Bob Iger and Alan Bergman, they said no.
“They didn’t see how Ben Solo was alive. And that was that,” Driver explained.
Given that Darth Maul, Palpatine, Boba Fett, and others have seemingly come back from the dead without issue, some fans have called foul.
“They didn’t see how Ben Solo was alive.”#StarWars #TheHuntForBenSolo pic.twitter.com/M0ZKpJpQ3f
— The Star Wars Academy (@TheStarWarsAcad) October 21, 2025
Disney’s logic may have had less to do with the realities of Ben Solo’s survival and more to do with The Rise of Skywalker’s astronomical $600 million budget, recently divulged by Forbes. The fact that both The Rise of Skywalker and Solo: A Star Wars Story lost money at the box office could also be part of the reason why Iger didn’t leap at the prospect of another Star Wars sequel era cinematic journey.
Conclusion
When worlds of story become intellectual property ecosystems, brand management often supersedes creative freedom. Disney and Lucasfilm have a long history of promising and then indefinitely postponing Star Wars projects, including movies from acclaimed directors like Patty Jenkins, Rian Johnson, and James Mangold. While those projects — including The Hunt for Ben Solo — might have made an impact on fans, Disney likely saw them as risky investments.
They should’ve made it. Nobody wanted Ben Solo to be dead. https://t.co/0FUJJiqhrL
— K J Gillenwater (@kjgillenwater) October 20, 2025
“I really enjoyed making the movie in my head,” Soderbergh said, “I’m just sorry the fans won’t get to see it.” If nothing else, The Hunt for Ben Solo is a bittersweet reminder of the cost of investing creatively and emotionally in the big business of Hollywood. Some things just aren’t meant to be.
Would you have gone see an Adam Driver Kylo Ren Star Wars movie? Or was Disney right to pass? Sound off in the comments and let us know!
Kylo Ren wasn’t a great villain. He had no menace. He was a mentally ill, unpredictable, child who would have been a nobody if he didn’t have the Force.
A follow up movie for him would be even more of a waste than the supposed follow up Rey film (please God, please don’t inflict that upon us…) .
Ugly Adam Driver is not a star. His image is a wet-blanket emo, a weak male counter to the Mary Sue Rey girl boss. In general, Star Wars, as made by feminist, woke Disney, is as dead as a dodo.
Four manyears down the drain. Ouch.
I would watch. The criticism may be valid, but Kylo was a popular character.