Adam Driver has revealed he pitched a new Star Wars movie which would have brought back his character from the dead.
The Oscar nominee played Kylo Ren, the antagonist of the Star Wars sequel series, from 2015-19. The character was the child of Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) and Han Solo (Harrison Ford), before becoming corrupted by The Dark Side and adopting his new title, leading the evil First Order.
The sequels remain divisive among fans, however in a new interview with Associated Press, the star has revealed he attempted to bring the character back. “I always was interested in doing another Star Wars,” he said. “I had been talking about doing another one since 2021. Kathleen (Kennedy, former head of Lucasfilm) 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.”
Driver thought he’d found that story in a script he helped develop alongside Steven Soderbergh and Julie Asner, who writes under the pseudonym Rebecca Blunt. The three worked together on 2017’s Logan Lucky, and conceived a story set after 2019’s Star Wars Episode IX – The Rise Of Skywalker.
After the pitch was well-received by Lucasfilm executives, screenwriter Scott Z Burns (The Bourne Ultimatum) was recruited to write what Driver called “one of the coolest (expletive) scripts 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,” he recalled. “We took it to (Disney executives) Bob Iger and Alan Bergman and they said no. They didn’t see how Ben Solo was alive. And that was that.”
He concluded: “It was called The Hunt for Ben Solo and it was really cool. But it is no more, so I can finally talk about it.” In a statement to AP, Soderbergh said: “I really enjoyed making the movie in my head. I’m just sorry the fans won’t get to see it.”
The Rise Of Skywalker was the last Star Wars film to be released in cinemas, with the franchise being continued on television in shows such as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor, and Ahsoka.
The universe will return to the big screen, however, in May 2026 with The Mandalorian and Grogu, a spin-off of the Disney+ series, as well as the 2027 standalone adventure Star Wars: Starfighter, starring Ryan Gosling.