For a franchise constructed on legacy, redemption, and stunning returns, it’s becoming that probably the most intriguing unrealized Star Wars initiatives refuses to vanish quietly. The Hunt for Ben Soloa proposed sequel centered on Kylo Ren after Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalkermight have been rejected as soon as, however new feedback and behind the scenes particulars counsel the concept is way from buried.
And based on Adam Driverit was probably the most thrilling scripts he had ever learn.
Adam Driver’s Secret Sequel Plan
Following the conclusion of the Skywalker Saga, Driver quietly started growing a continuation of Ben Solo’s story. Teaming with director Steven Soderbergh and author Scott Z. Burns, the pitch reportedly explored how Ben might need survived and what redemption would truly appear to be past a ultimate act sacrifice.
Driver has since spoken overtly about his ardour for the undertaking.
“It was one of many coolest scripts I’ve ever been concerned with,” Driver mentioned when discussing the shelved movie. “It wasn’t about undoing something. It was about consequence. It requested what redemption actually prices.”
That thematic focus is what reportedly satisfied key creatives at Lucasfilm to assist the concept. The story was not meant to be a easy resurrection twist. As a substitute, it might have leaned into the religious mythology of Star Wars and the concept that the Power doesn’t function inside regular guidelines of life and dying.
Driver additionally famous that the movie was deeply character pushed. “Ben was by no means meant to be easy,” he defined. “There was all the time extra there. We needed to discover that in a approach that felt earned.”
Adam Driver, as Kylo Ren The Power Awakens (credit score: Disney Photos)
Why Disney Stated No
Regardless of inventive enthusiasm, the pitch finally stalled on the govt stage. When introduced to management at Disneytogether with CEO Bob Iger and co chairman Alan Bergmanconsiderations reportedly centered on the plausibility of Ben Solo surviving his obvious dying.
From a company standpoint, the Skywalker Saga had concluded. Reopening it carried monetary and narrative threat. Driver has acknowledged that hesitation with out bitterness.
“I perceive why individuals had been cautious,” he mentioned. “However Star Wars has all the time been about taking huge swings.”
He’s not flawed. The franchise has revived characters earlier than, usually in way more controversial methods. For a lot of followers, Ben Solo’s survival would have felt thematically aligned with the saga’s lengthy historical past of redemption arcs and Power mysticism.
Why The Story Nonetheless Has Life
Extra just lately, feedback from Kathleen Kennedy have added gas to hypothesis that beforehand shelved concepts will not be completely off the desk. Kennedy has emphasised that Lucasfilm continues to revisit ideas relying on timing and artistic path.
That issues. The Star Wars franchise is at present in a interval of recalibration, with new movies and collection reshaping its future. In that context, a personality pushed story about Ben Solo searching for atonement may match naturally right into a broader thematic revival.
Driver himself has not closed the door.
“I don’t assume that story is completed,” he mentioned. “Whether or not it’s this model or one thing else, I believe there’s nonetheless one thing highly effective there.”
For now, The Hunt for Ben Solo stays an interesting what if. However in a galaxy the place nobody is ever really gone, the concept of Ben Solo returning yet another time feels much less like fantasy and extra like unfinished enterprise.