Ben Solo’s not dead. Not going by my social media feed, anyway. Ever since Adam Driver divulged that he – along with filmmaker Steven Soderbergh – had recently spent years cooking up his possible return to Star Wars, in a film titled The Hunt For Ben Solo, only for it to be quashed by the higher powers at Disney, Ben Solo has been everywhere. Abundant GIFs of the redeemed villain wielding that blue lightsaber on Exegol, from Episode IX – The Rise Of Skywalker. ‘Missing’ posters, with images of Driver’s face, saying ‘HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MAN?’ Even photos of a plane hired to fly over the Disney studios, with the hashtag ‘SAVE #THEHUNTFORBENSOLO’. It’s just like Luke said to Leia in The Last Jedi: “No-one’s ever really gone.”
So just how gone is The Hunt For Ben Solo? For now, quite gone. (Not Qui-Gon, to be clear.) Hence why Driver and Soderbergh have started talking about the project publicly – per Driver’s own words, to the Associated Press, “it is no more, so I can finally talk about it.” The ones who drove the lightsaber through Solo’s attempted revival? Current Disney CEO, Bob Iger, and Co-Chairman of Disney Entertainment, Alan Bergman. “They said no,” Driver explains. “They didn’t see how Ben Solo was alive. And that was that.” Or it was, until the internet got hold of it.
These things have a way of taking on a life of their own. Previously, fan clamouring has seen Ryan Reynolds given the greenlight to play Deadpool properly (to the tune of nearly $3 billion in box office), and encouraged Warners stump up an additional $70 million to make Zack Snyder’s Justice League a reality. Perhaps Driver and Soderbergh’s comments were intended to spark the project back to life through sheer fan enthusiasm (or, outrage). Or maybe they really do see it as dead and gone, until the point that perhaps it isn’t any more.
The Star Wars sequels were gigantic hits. The story of Kylo Ren was a huge part of that experience.
What is notable is the volume of excitement for the film, from all corners of the Star Wars fandom – not just those who have long defended the sequel films from its more hostile factions. It helps that Driver described The Hunt For Ben Solo as “one of the coolest [expletive] scripts I had ever been a part of”, penned by Scott Z. Burns from a story by Soderbergh and Rebecca Blunt; and that that script was approved within Lucasfilm, by Kathleen Kennedy, Carrie Beck, and Dave Filoni. But the outpouring of love from fans makes sense: whatever the discourse over the years, the Star Wars sequels were gigantic hits, seen by millions of people, and largely beloved on release. The story of Kylo Ren – aka Ben Solo – was a huge part of that experience.
Now is the time for the Star Wars sequel revival. This year marks a decade since The Force Awakens arrived in cinemas – insert GIF of Donovan drinking from the wrong Grail in The Last Crusade here – meaning youngsters who were 10 when they first saw Episode VII are now entering their young adulthood. Star Wars is cyclical, generational; it rhymes. In the six years since The Rise Of Skywalker, the saga has looked elsewhere – further prequel- and original trilogy-era expansions in animation and live action, and the exploration of the New Republic era through The Mandalorian. The sequel era has remained untouched. Fans have had long enough to miss Kylo Ren – and Rey, and Finn, and Poe Dameron. Their return would be a genuine event.
There are ways to bring Ben back without undermining the stakes that the Star Wars galaxy needs.
It does seem like Star Wars is looking to push into the future again. Shawn Levy’s currently-in-production Star Wars: Starfighter is said to be set five years post-The Rise Of Skywalker, while Lucasfilm has long confirmed Daisy Ridley’s eventual return as Rey. The Hunt For Ben Solo would have arrived exactly at the right time, cresting with the re-appreciation of a trilogy that has so much to love about it.
According to Driver, Iger and Bergman had one big issue with the whole project: Ben Solo is dead. And they have a point. But you’d have to imagine all involved found a creative solution to this, since Lucasfilm – including Filoni, in charge of overseeing the creative direction of the saga as a whole – said yes to the film. Even the title, The Hunt For Ben Solo, implies some kinds of quest; perhaps it’s not as easy as him simply being alive again.
There are ways to bring Ben back without undermining the stakes that the Star Wars galaxy needs. Many have cited the World Between Worlds – a physical manifestation of the Force – as a possibility. (Though, the WBW is meant to be more about knowledge and wisdom through the Force, a place where all time exists, rather than a means of resurrection or time-travel.) More compelling would be an exploration of the ‘Force Dyad’, the mysterious power that binds Rey and Kylo Ren – one the descendent of Palpatine, the other of Anakin Skywalker, their destinies and life-force entwined. It’s a power unique to these characters; employing it to revive Ben Solo would be a once-in-a-galaxy occurrence, rather than a get-out-of-jail-free card that cheapens the saga as a whole.
Either way, Adam Driver wants Ben Solo to return. Steven Soderbergh and Rebecca Blunt and Scott Z. Burns want Ben Solo to return. Kathleen Kennedy, Dave Filoni, and the powers at Lucasfilm want Ben Solo to return. Reylos want Ben Solo to return; sequel haters want Ben Solo to return; casual Star Wars fans want Ben Solo to return. Hell, I want Ben Solo to return. Maybe Disney will see there’s something in it. Say it all together: “No-one’s ever really gone.”