Ever since Adam Driver first spoke about The Hunt For Ben Solo – the axed Star Wars film he spent years developing with Steven Soderbergh, supposedly supported within Lucasfilm before being swatted down by Disney’s own CEO – fans have been on the hunt for The Hunt For Ben Solo. After all, death is not always the end in Star Wars, and given the sheer amount of development undertaken on the project, there are still hopes that the project could be resurrected.
Now, Steven Soderbergh has reiterated in an interview his feelings around the film’s cancellation, particularly given how far along the line the project got – a sentiment echoed by outgoing Lucasfilm CEO Kathleen Kennedy in an exit interview with Deadline. “It was no surprise that [Kathleen] was frustrated. We were all frustrated,” Soderbergh told BK Mag. “That was two and a half years of free work for me and Adam and Rebecca Blunt [writer]. When Adam and I discussed him talking about it publicly, I said, ‘Look, do not editorialise or speculate about the why. Just say what happened, because all we know is what happened.’ The stated reason was, ‘We don’t think Ben Solo could be alive.’ And that was all we were told. And so there’s nothing to do about it, you know, except move on.”
Per Soderbergh’s account, those involved with the film expected the final conversations – in which the film was ultimately cancelled – to merely be a formality ahead of pre-production beginning. “I’d kind of made the movie in my head, and just felt bad that nobody else was going to get to see it. I thought the conversation was strictly going to be a practical one—where they go, what is this going to cost?” he says. “And I had a really good answer for that. But it never even got to that point. It’s insane. We’re all very disappointed.”
Of course, the question remains: is The Hunt For Ben Solo really gone? Are Soderbergh and Driver publicising the film’s near-existence in the hope that fan clamouring brings it back to life? Or will it remain a lost mystery of The Force? Stay tuned to see if a new Disney CEO, Josh D’Amaro, and the new leadership at Lucasfilm, co-CEOs Dave Filoni and Lynne Brennan, can find a new spark in the project.