Star Wars fans are unhappy with Disney after Adam Driver revealed that studio executives Bob Iger and Alan Bergman vetoed Adam Driver’s script for a standalone film centered around Kylo Ren/Ben Solo, a character who won huge acclaim from critics and fans in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. The title of the script is “The Hunt for Ben Solo.”
Collider reported that a group of Star Wars fans paid for a flight to hang a banner over Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California that read, “Save Ben Solo.” A reporter for the website was at the scene of the viral stunt and snapped a photo of the banner flying overhead.
In an interview published on October 20, Driver told The Associated Press that he and director Steven Soderbergh spent two years developing a standalone Star Wars movie centered around Ben Solo. This movie would have taken place after the events of The Rise of Skywalker. According to Driver, Soderbergh worked on the script with Logan Lucky screenwriter Rebecca Blunt and longtime collaborator Scott Z. Burns (Contagion, The Informant!). Driver starred in Soderbergh’s “Logan Lucky” and Burns’ “The Report.”
“I’ve always wanted to do Star Wars again,” Driver told The Associated Press. “We’ve been talking about doing the next one since 2021. Kathleen[Kennedy]contacted me. I always said, ‘If you have a great director and a great story, it’s going to happen.'” I loved that character and loved playing him. ”
Driver liked the script for The Hunt for Ben Solo, calling it the “standard” of what a Star Wars movie “should be” and comparing it to the “homemade, character-driven” feel of The Empire Strikes Back. The Oscar nominee said Lucasfilm executives Kathleen Kennedy, Dave Filoni and Cary Beck supported the project until Disney canceled it.
“We submitted the script to Lucasfilm, and they really liked the idea,” Driver recalls. “They completely 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 understand how Ben Solo lived, and that was it.”
Driver’s interview excited “Star Wars” fans. That’s not only because Ben Solo is a fan-favorite character, but also because the Star Wars film franchise has suffered in the years since The Rise of Skywalker, with many features stalled, delayed or canceled.
“It was really fun making the movie in my head,” Soderbergh told The Associated Press, adding that “It was one of the coolest scripts I’ve ever been a part of.”
The “Star Wars” franchise will finally return to the big screen next year with the release of “The Mandalorian & Grogu,” a sequel to the popular Disney Plus series “The Mandalorian.” It will be released in theaters on May 22nd. Another Star Wars movie, Starfighter, directed by Shawn Levy and starring Ryan Gosling, is currently in production and scheduled for release on May 28, 2027.
