Adam Driver Says Ben Solo Is Finished After Disney Turned Down the Script
Driver and Steven Soderbergh spent two years on a sequel they both liked before Disney said Ben Solo was dead. The fan campaigns did not change the answer.
Adam Driver told The Rich Eisen Show on Wednesday that The Hunt for Ben Solo is over. Disney executives saw the project and passed on it. The studio's stated reason, as Driver recounted it: Ben Solo is dead.
The scope of what Driver built makes the rejection notable. He worked on the project with director Steven Soderbergh for two years. Screenwriters Scott Z. Burns and Jules Asner wrote the script under the shared pseudonym Rebecca Blunt. Driver told The Rich Eisen Show the finished product was "really good."
We tried to do one more, yeah, but they were like, "No, he's dead."
Driver said he has accepted the outcome. "If they wanted to, fine. But I think the ship has sailed," he told Rich Eisen, appearing on the show to promote his next film, Paper Tiger.
Fan Campaigns Spent Real Money and Still Lost
The audience that wanted a sequel made its position visible. Supporters paid for billboards and arranged for planes to fly over Disney's corporate offices. Driver noticed.
The fans' response to it, though, was pretty incredible. I didn't expect that it was going to be billboards and people flying planes over Disney and things like that. That was pretty cool.
The campaigns did not change the outcome. Disney held the character's death as a fixed narrative point in its franchise. That position held regardless of audience investment.
Disney Treats Franchise Deaths as Brand Continuity Points
By Driver's account, this was a brand continuity decision. The Rise of Skywalker ended with Ben Solo dying. Disney's refusal to revisit that moment is consistent with how large entertainment franchises manage their theatrical mythology: once a canonical death lands in the record, reversing it carries continuity costs the studio has decided are not worth the creative benefit. TheWrap reported Driver was not turned down because the script was weak. He was turned down because the character was canonically dead. Disney has not publicly commented on the development process.
Starfighter Heads to Theaters in May 2027
The Star Wars franchise is not in retreat. Shawn Levy is directing Star Wars: Starfighter, with Ryan Gosling attached as the lead, for a theatrical release on May 28, 2027. Yahoo Entertainment reported the upcoming film confirms Disney is investing in the franchise at scale. Driver's next project, Paper Tiger, is already in its promotional window, which is what brought him to The Rich Eisen Show in the first place.
Sources & further reading
- TheWrap, Casey Loving: "Adam Driver Says 'The Hunt for Ben Solo' Is Dead Despite 'Incredible' Fans: 'We Tried'," November 4, 2026
- Yahoo Entertainment, Anubhav Chaudhry: "Canceled Kylo Ren Star Wars Movie Gets Clear Verdict From Adam Driver," November 5, 2026
- Wikimedia Commons: Adam Driver at the 2026 Montclair Film Festival, October 18, 2026. Photo: Montclair Film / Neil Grabowsky, TTL Studios (CC BY 4.0)
