Steven Soderbergh is continuing to open about about his Adam Driver-starring scrapped “Star Wars” movie “The Hunt for Ben Solo.” In a new interview with BK Mag, the Oscar-winning filmmaker said “it was no surprise” to read Kathleen Kennedy’s Lucasfilm exit interview and hear about her frustrations over Disney’s axing of “The Rise of Skywalker” follow-up movie, which would’ve brought Driver back as the fan-favorite Kylo Ren/Ben Solo.
“We were all frustrated,” Soderbergh said. “You know, that was two and a half years of free work for me and Adam and [writer] Rebecca Blunt. When Adam and I discussed him talking about it publicly, I said, ‘Look, do not editorialize or speculate about the why. Just say what happened, because all we know is what happened.’ The stated reason was, ‘We don’t think Ben Solo could be alive.’ And that was all we were told. And so there’s nothing to do about it, you know, except move on.”
“I’d kind of made the movie in my head, and just felt bad that nobody else was going to get to see it,” the director continued. “I thought the conversation was strictly going to be a practical one—where they go, what is this going to cost? And I had a really good answer for that. But it never even got to that point. It’s insane. We’re all very disappointed.”
Driver revealed the existence of “The Hunt for Ben Solo” in an October 2025 interview with the Associated Press, explaining he had been developing a Ben Solo movie for two years with Soderbergh. Then Disney executives pulled the plug on them.
“I always was interested in doing another ‘Star Wars,’” Driver said at the time. “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 loved “The Hunt for Ben Solo” script, calling it the “standard” of what a “Star Wars” movie “should be” and comparing it to the “handmade and character-driven” feel of “The Empire Strikes Back.” He added that Lucasfilm execs Kennedy, Dave Filoni and Cary Beck backed the project until Disney shut it down.
“We presented the script to Lucasfilm. They loved the idea,” Driver recalled. “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.”
Soderbergh provided his own POV on the film’s axing soon afterward by writing on BlueSky: “For the record, I did not enjoy lying about the existence of ‘THE HUNT FOR BEN SOLO,’ but it really did need to remain a secret…until now!… Also, in the aftermath of the ‘HFBS’ situation, I asked Kathy Kennedy if LFL had ever turned in a finished movie script for greenlight to Disney and had it rejected. She said no, this was a first.”
Driver’s revelation mobilized “Star Wars” fans on social media into calling for Disney to reverse its decision and put “The Hunt for Ben Solo” back in development. A group of “Star Wars” fans even paid for a plane to fly a banner reading “Save ‘The Hunt for Ben Solo’” over Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, Calif. Even Daisy Ridley, who starred opposite Driver as Rey in the most “Star Wars” sequel trilogy, championed fans for their support of “The Hunt for Ben Solo.”
“I knew a piece of it. I heard rumblings,” Ridley told IGN. “I have lots of friends who are crew, so things always travel like that. But, whoa! When the story came out, no, I was like, ‘Oh, my God!’ And it was him that said it, right? It was funny because, like, ‘Oh, wow, Adam is saying it,’ and that’s the big surprise of the year.”
“I do love when there is a collective of positivity,” Ridley added “The way the internet seems to have rallied to try and get it to happen. It’s fantastic for us all. It’s good for us to all be united about something in a really positive way. Obviously, everyone knows he was a very popular character, but it was also lovely to think, ‘Wow, people really, really care and want this.’ I just… I like it.”
