Earlier this week, actor Adam Driver made headlines when he revealed that he was all set to reprise the role of Ben Solo, aka Kylo Ren, for a new post-The Rise of Skywalker Star Wars movie directed by Steven Soderbergh... until Disney pulled the plug.
The project was going to focus on "The Hunt for Ben Solo," who was pretty definitively killed off at the end of The Rise of Skywalker after first rejecting the Dark Side of the Force and helping Rey to defeat the resurrected/cloned Emperor Palpatine.
"We presented the script to Lucasfilm. They loved the idea," Driver told The Associated Press. "They totally understood our angle and why we were doing it. It was called The Hunt for Ben Solo and it was really cool. 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."
The Playlist has now shared some very interesting updates, and it sounds like this project came a lot closer to entering production than we realized. Not only did The Hunt for Ben Solo have a finished script, but the "full stamp of approval from Lucasfilm, including Kathleen Kennedy, and was greenlit internally before being canceled by Disney executives Bob Iger and Alan Bergman."
Here's an excerpt from their report.
"Sources close to the project emphasize that this was not a loose concept or early pitch. The film, operating under the codename Quiet Leaves, had a finalized screenplay and was entering early prep and staffing stages. Disney purchased a fully developed treatment and beat sheet, developed by Soderbergh and screenwriter Rebecca Blunt (the pseudonym for Jules Asner, Soderbergh’s wife, who also wrote Logan Lucky]), and hired Scott Z. Burns—who was paid more than any screenwriter in Lucasfilm history—to complete the screenplay.
According to insiders, Kathleen Kennedy, Dave Filoni, and Carrie Beck were directly involved throughout development and were reportedly enthusiastic about the drafts that came in. Kennedy and the Star Wars Story Group waited until the project was 'ready to shoot' before they presented it to Disney. When the final script, budget, and proposed start date were delivered to Disney, it marked the first time Lucasfilm had ever presented a fully approved project that did not move forward."
Soderbergh himself has now confirmed this final point on Bluesky.
Bergman is said to have taken "an unusually long time to read the script," and once he did, the primary concern was indeed believed to be Solo being brought back to life following the events of The Rise of Skywalker. This was said to have surprised the higher-ups at Lucasfilm, since it was generally felt that "the story’s logic was clear and creatively sound."
As for the speculation that Driver began discussing The Hunt for Ben Solo in an attempt to pressure Disney into revisiting the project, The Playlist believes that the actor is simply choosing to spill the details since he is no longer bound by NDAs or any contractual restrictions.
The Playlist has also weighed-in on a separate report that David Fincher pitched a new Star Wars movie to Lucasfilm after The Rise of Skywalker was released. According to the site, this is not accurate, as Fincher actually made with the studio years earlier to gauge interest in a project. The filmmaker is still said to have "a loose idea for a story set between episodes eight and nine of the Skywalker Saga" which "never progressed beyond the initial concept and failed to gain traction with Lucasfilm."
For what it's worth, Jeff Sneider stood by his original story during this week's episode of The Hot Mic.
It doesn't sound like The Hunt for Ben Solo is a project (or a concept) that will ever come to fruition, but if this next era of Star Wars movies - which is said to feature Rey (Daisy Ridley) and other characters from the sequel trilogy - proves to be successful, Disney might just see the potential in taking another look at the story.