Steven Soderbergh has no intention of reviving “The Hunt for Ben Solo” under new leadership at Disney. During an interview with The Playlist during the press tour for his latest film, The Christophers, the filmmaker answered “no” when asked if he was trying to revive the film, adding, “Look, if it was meant to happen, it would have happened. It’s that simple.”
Adam Driver revealed the existence of The Hunt for Ben Solo in an October 2025 interview with The Associated Press, explaining that he and Soderbergh had been developing a film to revive the Ben Solo/Kylo Ren movie for two years. Disney executives subsequently recanted their involvement.
“Technically, Adam said, ‘I think there’s still room for this character,’ and that’s how it started,” Soderbergh told The Playlist. “Otherwise, I would never have found myself in that universe again in a million years…I don’t regret one minute of the time we spent on that work. I felt good about that work. It’s just good to be in that room and work on it. It’s like CrossFit – it’s good for you. It’s going to have some unexpected residual effect someday.”
Driver loves the script for The Hunt for Ben Solo, telling The Associated Press last year that it was the “standard” for what a Star Wars movie “should” be, comparing it to the “homemade, character-driven” feel of The Empire Strikes Back. He said Lucasfilm executives 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.”
Since the project was canceled, Soderbergh has moved on and is not actively trying to make it happen even under new leadership at Disney and Lucasfilm. Kennedy, who backed “The Hunt for Ben Solo,” resigned as president of Lucasfilm in January after leading the studio for 14 years. Dave Filoni currently assumes responsibility as Co-President and Chief Creative Officer. Bob Iger, who was reportedly involved in the movie’s cancellation, has also left Disney, and Josh D’Amaro is now CEO.
“The moment I knew, ‘Okay, it’s not going to happen,’ I sat down and started writing[something else],” Soderbergh told The Playlist. “It’s like, ‘Okay, here’s a new scenario, let’s do it right away.’ At a certain point, it’s like complaining about the weather. You just have to keep moving… Look, if it was meant to happen, it would have happened. It’s that simple.”
In an interview with BK Mag in February, Oscar-winning director Soderbergh said that “we were all frustrated” when Disney executives halted production on The Hunt for Ben Solo. He also revealed that the studio stopped making the film before hearing how much it would cost.
“I was making a movie in my head, and I was disappointed that no one would see it,” Soderbergh said at the time. “I thought the conversation was going to be strictly practical: Where are they going? How much is it going to cost? And I had a very good answer to that. But we didn’t get there. It’s insane. We’re all very disappointed.”
Driver and Soderbergh’s interview about “The Hunt for Ben Solo” mobilized “Star Wars” fans on social media to call for Disney to reverse its decision and resume development on “The Hunt for Ben Solo.” A group of “Star Wars” fans also paid for a plane to fly a banner reading “Save Ben Solo” over Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California.
