There’s been a lot of discussion about the Star Wars sequel trilogy over the course of the past decade-plus, with ever-evolving waves of revisionism serving to shape constantly altering perceptions. And it isn’t hard to see why, considering that regardless of where you stand as a Star Wars fan, chances are high there’s at least one entry in that trilogy that you aren’t a fan of. But if there’s one consistent opinion about this batch of films that nearly everyone seems to agree on, it is that Adam Driver was great as Ben Solo, or as he’s more sinisterly known, Kylo Ren.
Which is why it seemed absolutely insane when Driver revealed more than a year ago that he, Academy Award-winning director Steven Soderbergh, and acclaimed writer Scott Z. Burns had all been working together on a secret Star Wars sequel, titled The Hunt for Ben Solo, but that Disney higher-ups had ultimately balked at their pitch. This casual reveal on Driver’s part incited a whole backlash towards Disney from fans, and launched several petitions and campaigns from fans eager to see Driver back onscreen as this character following his disappointing end in The Rise of Skywalker. Now, for the first time, Driver is speaking a bit more about the project, about the reaction to it, and clarifying that he thinks he really is done with Star Wars.
In a recent appearance on The Rich Eisen Show, where Driver was promoting his new film Paper Tiger, Eisen pressed Driver on any involvement in future Star Wars projects. Driver responded, “No more Star Wars. We tried, we tried to do one more… but they were like, no, he’s dead.”
He went on to clarify that he and his prestigious collaborators worked on the script “really and earnestly, for two years. We got a script together that was really good… We all worked on it. It was awesome. It was really cool.” He also reveals that he was a fan of the fans’ own reactions to the film, saying, “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.” However, he ultimately concluded with, “I think the ship has sailed though.”
Pretty cut-and-dry response, right? Well, not quite. First of all, it bears mentioning that Driver seemingly lied several times straight to interviewers' faces while he was actively working on The Hunt for Ben Solo, telling them things very similar to this about how he was entirely done with Star Wars, despite spending his free time writing Ben Solo fan-fiction (complimentary). Also, Driver is working with Disney again, playing that antagonistic Mr. Sinister in the new X-Men film; something that would seem highly unlikely if there really was still bad blood between the actor and the company over a project he devoted several years to being canceled.
And lastly and perhaps most importantly, when pressed by Eisen if he would return if Disney wanted to resurrect the project, Driver does let one additional detail slip through that feels telling: “If they wanted to, fine…”
For now, you can watch Adam Driver as Kylo Ren in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, streaming on Disney+.
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