Copyright Screen Rant
When it comes to the Star Wars fandom, "millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror" in response to the news that Adam Driver's pitch for a Ben Solo spin-off movie was rejected by Disney. For so many reasons, this is a huge missed opportunity for the Star Wars franchise, especially with Lucasfilm preparing to usher in a return to the big screen. One of the central characters of Disney's sequel trilogy, Adam Driver played Ben Solo/Kylo Ren, the corrupted son of Han Solo and Princess Leia who had fallen to the dark side, having destroyed Luke Skywalker's Jedi academy before serving Supreme Leader Snoke and The First Order. Although the sequels ended with Ben Solo's sacrifice and a redemption back to the light, it seems Driver had a plan for the beloved character to be revisited with his own Star Wars spin-off. Adam Driver Wanted To Come Back To Star Wars... & He Had A Pitch According to Adam Driver himself in an interview with The Associated Press' Jake Coyle, a pitch and script had been developed for two years with the support of Lucasfilm heads Kathleen Kennedy and Dave Filoni. Director Steven Soderbergh (Ocean's Eleven, Erin Brokovich, Logan Lucky) was brought on, as was screenwriter Scott Z. Burns (The Bourne Ultimatum, Contagion). Apparently, The Hunt For Ben Solo would have been set after the events of The Rise of Skywalker, as Driver felt there were still unresolved elements to Ben Solo's story and redemption arc (and it can easily be argued that this is true). However, it seems as though the pitch was immediately shut down by Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger and Disney Entertainment's co-chair Alan Bergman, who were unable to get past the fact that Ben Solo gave his life to save Rey Skywalker's at the end of Episode IX. Adam Driver's Ben Solo Deserved To Return Out of all the sequel trilogy characters, Kylo Ren/Ben Solo had the most untapped potential by far. Ben Solo giving his life to save Rey was a major act of redemption at the end of The Rise of Skywalker. However, this redemption was very rushed, giving Ben not nearly as much time as he should have been given to reconcile his darkness, let alone continue to live with an ongoing redemption arc. Even before this news, it had long been argued that Ben's story should have continued, rather than echoing his grandfather's journey so much that he too wasn't given the chance to live with his newfound redemption, just like Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader. Instead, Ben Solo should have been allowed to become the man his father and mother believed he could be, honoring their legacies rather than continuing to fulfill the dark legacy of Darth Vader. Exploring Ben Solo beyond his corruption as Kylo Ren could have also made up for the sequels’ biggest struggle, which was a failure to balance nostalgia and originality. For example, Ben's post-redemption story could have shown what a new kind of Jedi could look like with Rey by his side: achieving a new balance in the Force together. Without question, Iger and Bergman's inability to reconcile Ben Solo's death feels like an absurd reason to shut down what could have been an exciting and highly anticipated spin-off for one of the sequels' most beloved characters, who consistently gave one of the best performances across all three movies with captivating dynamics all around. After all, this is Star Wars we're talking about, where various mystical means of resurrection are easy to come by, let alone the fact that the veil between life and death on the planet where Ben Solo died (Exegol) is canonically thin. It's also worth pointing out that Ben Solo's unique bond with Rey as a rare Force dyad granted them both uniquely powerful Force abilities capable of transcending both time and space. By no means should Ben Solo's death have been the deal-breaker that kept his spin-off from getting made. It Looks Like Ben Solo ISN'T Coming Back Unfortunately, all signs are sadly pointing to Star Wars leaving Ben Solo behind. There's nothing remotely like a Ben Solo spin-off when looking at Lucasfilm’s upcoming slate of films beyond Daisy Ridley’s New Jedi Order movie. While it's set after The Rise of Skywalker and said to be focused on Rey Skywalker and her efforts to rebuild the Jedi of the future, there haven't been any reports about a Ben Solo cameo (Force ghost or otherwise). Likewise, Lucasfilm's other movies include The Mandalorian & Grogu in 2026, Shawn Levy's Star Wars: Starfighter releasing in 2027, which is said to be starring a cast of brand-new post-sequel trilogy characters, as well as a Dawn of the Jedi movie from director James Mangold set in the timeline's ancient past. However, that’s not to say that fans aren't interested in a Ben Solo spin-off (quite the opposite). Since the news broke, the internet has seen the Star Wars fandom going crazy, lamenting Disney's rejection and demanding that the Ben Solo project be picked back up by Lucasfilm.
