Star Wars: Ben Solo Never Needed To Come Back Anyway

Last year, Star Wars fans were shocked by the revelation that Lucasfilm turned down The Hunt for Ben Solo, a story that would have followed The Artist Formerly Known as Kylo Ren as he dealt with his redemption in the wake of Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker. Not only would Adam Driver have reprised his role as Ben Solo, but none other than Steven Soderbergh was tapped to direct, with Scott Z. Burns (World War Z) penning the script. 

Ultimately, the project never went through as then-Disney heads Bob Iger and Alan Bergman spent a lengthy amount of time reading the script, and Driver and Soderbergh deciding to move on. “I’m not doing any more,” Driver told the Smartless podcast in 2024. Yet that didn’t stop fans from campaigning to get Lucasfilm to reverse their decision. A plane flew a banner over the Disney lot. Fans paid to have an electronic billboard in Times Square. Even Rian Johnson, who turned out in of the best modern Star Wars projects in the form of Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi, threw his support behind the Solo film.

However, while the idea of a Steven Soderbergh-directed Star Wars film is a promising prospect, it’s a good thing that The Hunt for Ben Solo never came to pass. (And now it almost certainly never will, with Driver recently telling The Rich Eisen Show “Yeah, it’s over. No more Star Wars.) For one thing, it would have felt like an attempt to course correct the franchise after The Rise of Skywalker, which itself was an attempt to try and course correct on the (utterly wrong) assumption that The Last Jedi broke the franchise. For all its ups and downs, the Star Wars sequel trilogy did bring some major changes to the galaxy far, far away, and it’s better to move forward rather than look backwards.

Some fans might point out that The Hunt for Ben Solo would give the former Kylo Ren more character development. Those fans are forgetting that such a story exists in a miniseries published by Marvel Comics: The Rise of Kylo Ren, The Reign of Kylo Ren, and The Fall of Kylo Ren by Charles Soule, Will Sliney, and Luke Ross. In this trilogy, readers witness Ben Solo’s descent into darkness and his inner war with himself as he rules the First Order. It’s truly a well-written character piece that adds far more depth to the Sequel Trilogy and Ben himself. Some of the best Star Wars stories aren’t on the big screen, and these comics are proof of that.

Another major factor that must be considered is how the campaign to bring The Hunt for Ben Solo to life ran parallel to the “Release the Snyder Cut” movement that plagued the internet for years. While the latter campaign did feel fulfilled by the release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, a large part of the reason why it was greenlit is that HBO Max needed a big draw as it then was only a year old and in need of some angry nerds’ subscription dollars. There’s also the “Restore the SnyderVerse” campaign that popped up and continues to this day, proving that the old adage of “giving an inch and taking a mile” has some merit. While The Hunt for Ben Solo campaign hasn’t stooped to such annoying behavior, a potential success would lead to more fans trying to push their demands on Lucasfilm. And as The Rise of Skywalker proved, you cannot please everyone – least of all Star Wars fans.

Next year marks the 50th anniversary of Star Wars, with Starfighter charting a new course in the galaxy far, far away. In that spirit, it’s time to let Ben Solo rest.