Despite fan campaigns to save the project, one particular Star Wars movie is officially dead.
Last year, Adam Driver, who played Kylo Ren in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, revealed that he once tried to develop a spinoff film called The Hunt for Ben Solo with Steven Soderbergh, Rebecca Blunt, and Scott Z. Burns. Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy was very receptive to the idea, but Disney CEO Bob Iger decided not to pursue the project.
A lot has changed since then, with Dave Filoni now in charge of Lucasfilm and Josh D’Amaro replacing Iger, but The Hunt for Ben Solo is still not moving forward, which was confirmed by Soderbergh during an interview with The Playlist. As the acclaimed filmmaker bluntly put it, “Look, if it was gonna happen, it would have happened. It’s that simple.”
Soderbergh reflected on his time working on the movie, with Driver strongly believing that “there’s still somewhere to go” with Kylo Ren (aka Ben Solo), whose parents are Han Solo and Leia Organa. The character first appeared in Star Wars: The Force Awakens and serves as one of the main villains in the sequel trilogy. As part of his backstory, the trilogy reveals that he was trained by none other than Luke Skywalker.
“It was strictly Adam saying, ‘I think there’s still somewhere to go with this character.’ That’s how it started. Otherwise, I never in a million years would have found myself in that universe again… Look, if it was gonna happen, it would have happened. It’s that simple.”
Soderbergh spent a lot of time trying to develop The Hunt for Ben Solo. Even though Disney ultimately rejected the idea, the filmmaker doesn’t regret the time and energy that went into the project. “I felt the work was good,” he admitted. “It’s just good for you to be in that room and working on it…It’ll have a residual effect that will be unexpected at some point.”
Once he was told that the film would not be greenlit, Soderbergh quickly moved on and started writing a script for a different project. “At a certain point, it’s like complaining about the weather. You just gotta keep moving,” he explained.
“I don’t regret one minute of the time we spent working on that. I felt the work was good. It’s just good for you to be in that room and working on it. It’s like CrossFit—it’s good for you. It’ll have a residual effect that will be unexpected at some point.
“As soon as it became apparent, okay, not gonna happen, I sat down and started writing [something else]. It’s like, ‘Okay, new scenario, let’s get cracking.’ At a certain point, it’s like complaining about the weather. You just gotta keep moving.”
With a nearly perfect critic score of 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, the Disney+ show Andor revitalized the Star Wars franchise in a way that hasn’t been seen for years.
Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalkervia MovieStillsDB
However, Soderbergh wanted to make it clear in his interview with The Playlist that the success of Andor didn’t play a role in his and Driver teaming up to work on The Hunt for Ben Solo. While Andor is “great,” the director and actor had already started working on their project before the Diego Luna-starring series had even premiered.
“Well, I don’t want to say [it had no influence], because then it makes it seem like, you know, ‘I watched Andor, and it had absolutely no impact on me,’ which is not true; it was great. But this was before Andor aired. Adam and I started talking, and this would have been almost three years ago now.”
Soderbergh is best known for directing such films as Erin Brockovich (which earned him an Oscar for Best Director), Traffic, the Ocean’s Eleven trilogy, Contagion, and Magic Mike. His next movie is the critically acclaimed The Christophers, which arrives in theaters on April 10 and stars The Lord of the Rings’ Ian McKellen.
While The Hunt for Ben Solo is officially dead, Disney and Lucasfilm have other Star Wars films in the works, including The Mandalorian and Grogu (May 22, 2026) and Star Wars: Starfighter (May 28, 2027).
Cast
Mark Hamill, James Earl Jones, David Prowse, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Ian McDiarmid, Ewan McGregor, Rosario Dawson, Lars Mikkelsen, Rupert Friend, Moses Ingram, Frank Oz, Pedro Pascal
TV Show(s)
The Mandalorian, Andor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka, The Acolyte, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, Lando, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, Star Wars: The Bad Batch, Star Wars: Resistance, Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures, Star Wars: Visions
Movie(s)
Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi, Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens, Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi, Star Wars: Episode IX- The Rise of Skywalker, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi, Star Wars: New Jedi Order
Star Wars is a multimedia franchise that started in 1977 by creator George Lucas. After the release of Star Wars: Episode IV- A New Hope (originally just titled Star Wars), the franchise quickly exploded, spawning multiple sequels, prequels, TV shows, video games, comics, and much more. After Disney acquired the rights to the franchise, they quickly expanded the universe on Disney+, starting with The Mandalorian.