{"id":1236405973,"date":"2025-10-20T20:06:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T03:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/?p=1236405973"},"modified":"2025-10-20T20:06:28","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T03:06:28","slug":"adam-driver-disney-shot-down-ben-solo-star-wars-sequel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-news\/adam-driver-disney-shot-down-ben-solo-star-wars-sequel-1236405973\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Disney Shot Down Adam Driver’s Ben Solo ‘Star Wars’ Sequel: “It Is No More”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t\t
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\tAdam Driver has revealed that Disney shot down a Star Wars<\/em> sequel<\/a> centered on Ben Solo, despite Lucasfilm being on board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThe Oscar-nominated actor, who played the son of Han Solo and Leia Organa and the grandson of Anakin Skywalker (aka Darth Vader), and later turned into the villain Kylo Ren, recently detailed the sequel idea during an interview with The Associated Press<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\u201cI always was interested in doing another Star Wars<\/em>,\u201d Driver said.\u00a0\u201cI had been talking about doing another one since 2021. Kathleen [Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm] had reached out. I always said: With a great director and a great story, I\u2019d be there in a second. I loved that character and loved playing him.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThe Megalopolis<\/em> actor said he eventually took his idea to filmmaker Steven Soderbergh, adding that the film would have taken place after 2019\u2019s\u00a0The Rise of Skywalker<\/em>. (Driver also starred in 2015’s The Force Awakens<\/em> and 2017’s The Last Jedi<\/em>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tAfter Soderbergh and Rebecca Blunt outlined a story concept, they tapped Scott Z. Burns\u00a0to write a script, which Driver described as \u201cone of the coolest (expletive) scripts I had ever been a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThe House of Gucci <\/em>star continued, “We presented the script to Lucasfilm. They loved the idea. They totally understood our angle and why we were doing it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tWhile everything seemed to be moving full steam ahead at that point, there were a few more people Driver needed on board for the film, which was tentatively titled\u00a0The Hunt for Ben Solo<\/em>, to fully come to life. However, things didn’t go to plan once they presented it to Disney execs<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\u201cWe took it to Bob Iger and Alan Bergman and they said no. They didn\u2019t see how Ben Solo was alive. And that was that,” Driver recalled. His character Kylo Ren has a redemption arc across the trilogy and ultimately dies at the end of\u00a0The Rise of Skywalker<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tHe added that though the sequel idea “was really cool,” he noted, “It is no more, so I can finally talk about it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tSoderbergh also wrote in a statement to The Associated Press<\/em>, \u201cI really enjoyed making the movie in my head. I\u2019m just sorry the fans won\u2019t get to see it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThe Hollywood Reporter<\/em> reached out to Lucasfilm, but they declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The actor claimed that Lucasfilm initially “loved the idea” for the Steven Soderbergh-directed sequel, which would have taken place after 2019\u2019s\u00a0‘The Rise of Skywalker.’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1223545,"featured_media":1235708518,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"override_post_title":"","override_post_excerpt":"","authors":[],"contributors":[],"styled_by":[],"_image_credit":"","_wp_attachment_image_alt":"","pmc_selected_wwd_video_media":"","pmc_top_video_source":"","pmc_top_video_duration":"","wwd_top_video_source":"","wwd_top_video_duration":"","pmc_selected_featured_media":"","pmc_selected_video_media":"","pmc_selected_variety_video_media":"","variety_top_video_source":"","variety_top_video_duration":"","pmc_featured_media_has_alt_text":true,"_pmc_featured_animated_media_id":0,"_pmc_featured_video_override_data":"","_pmc_featured_video_override_url":"","_pmc_featured_video_response_data":"","pmc-gallery-linked-gallery":{},"pmc_list_item_description":"","primary_category":"","primary_vertical":"","_mt_pmc_exclude_from_seo":"","_pmc_opengraph_title":"","_pmc_opengraph_description":"","categories":59,"subcategories":65852,"thr-review-summary-credits":"","thr-full-credit":"","thr-review-mpaa-rating":"","thr-review-running-time":"","_synopsis":"","_air_date":"00-00-00","pmc-imdb-id":"","pmc-review-type":"","pmc-review-rating":"","pmc-review-rating-out-of":"","pmc-review-snippet":"","pmc-review-title":"","pmc-review-canonical-link":"","pmc-theatrical-release-date":0,"pmc-director":"","pmc-review-image_attachment_id":0,"thr_post_headlines":"The 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