The Force would have been strong with Ben Solo — if Adam Driver had his way, that is. The Marriage Story star, who played the son of Han Solo and Leia Organa in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, revealed that his pitch for a follow-up to the character’s story was turned down by Disney, despite Lucasfilm’s approval.
Speaking to The Associated Press, the Oscar-nominated actor detailed his plans for the sequel film, which was set to take place after 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker.
“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,” he revealed.
Driver then took his idea to filmmaker Steven Soderbergh (Ocean‘s trilogy and film franchise), who worked out a story concept alongside Rebecca Blunt, with Scott Z. Burns (The Borune Ultimatum) tapped to pen the script — described by the actor as “one of the coolest (expletive) scripts that I had ever been a part of.”
“We presented the script to Lucasfilm. They loved the idea. 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,” he continued, adding that the project was to be titled The Hunt for Ben Solo.
Soderbergh also shared his sentiments in a statement, “I really enjoyed making the movie in my head. I’m just sorry the fans won’t get to see it.”
The House of the Mouse’s reasoning for rejecting the pitch comes across as bizarre, considering that various presumably dead characters have been brought back in the Star Wars universe, with the most notable example being Palpatine. Although the Emperor met his demise at the end of Return of the Jedi, he made a shocking return as the main villain in The Rise of Skywalker.
The Rise of Skywalker serves as the closer to 2015’s The Force Awakens and 2017’s The Last Jedi. Alongside Driver, the threequel also starred Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, and Oscar Isaac, with original trilogy cast members including Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, and Carrie Fisher reprising their roles.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
Joyce Ong
