On Monday, actor Adam Driver revealed that both he and filmmaker Steven Soderbergh had spent two years developing a script for a “Star Wars” spin-off film.
Driver said the script was called “The Hunt for Ben Solo” with events taking place after those of “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” and would follow his Kylo Ren, aka Ben Solo, on a search for redemption.
The project seemingly got pretty far, Soderbergh working on the script with Rebecca Blunt (“Logan Lucky”) and Scott Z. Burns (“Contagion”), with the project successfully pitched to Lucasfilm, who were keen. It was then that Disney chiefs Bob Iger and Alan Bergman stepped in and killed the project.
Now, further information about what happened has come to light via Soderbergh himself on Bluesky.
Soderbergh confirmed that the script was all finished, and they turned it in to be greenlit when Disney rejected it, something that was sort of unprecedented:
“In the aftermath of the [Hunt for Ben Solo] situation, I asked Kathy Kennedy if Lucasfilm had ever turned in a finished movie script for greenlight to Disney and had it rejected. She said no, this was a first.”
Further reports this week, after the initial one, suggested Lucasfilm has no plans to revisit the character of Kylo Ren/Ben Solo currently. The Playlist added that the film was moving into early preparation and staffing before the plug was pulled. Burns’ finalisation of the script reportedly earned him more than any writer in Lucasfilm history (over $3 million).
They indicate the film, which had the working name ‘Quiet Leaves’, had a final script, budget, and proposed start date when it was delivered to Disney. Disney execs were confused by how Ben Solo could be alive after ‘Rise of Skywalker’ – even as Lucasfilm indicated the story logic was creatively sound. The outlet says several people close to the production interpret the decision as “politically motivated, coinciding with Iger’s efforts to position Bergman as his successor” at Disney.
