Another chapter unfolds in the saga of The Hunt for Ben Solo, the scrapped Star Wars movie that would have seen Adam Driver return to the franchise. Turns out the project was even further along than we thought. Steven Soderbergh confirmed on BlueSky that the script for The Hunt for Ben Solo was finished when they presented it to Disney. The studio ultimately rejected it, which is apparently the first time this had happened to a Lucasfilm project.
Soderbergh wrote, “In the aftermath of the [Hunt for Ben Solo] situation, I asked Kathy Kennedy if LFL had ever turned in a finished movie script for greenlight to Disney and had it rejected. She said no, this was a first.“
The Playlist has even more details. In addition to the finalized screenplay, the project was even entering early prep and staffing stages. Lucasfilm had presented Disney with a finished script, a budget, and even a proposed start date. It all seemed good to go.
The report states that Disney executive Alan Bergman took an “unusually” long time to read the script. When he and Bob Iger finally responded, their biggest concern was how Ben Solo could still be alive after he died in The Rise of Skywalker. The script reportedly clearly addresses this, so the reaction surprised Lucasfilm. But Disney was firm; the movie wouldn’t be happening.
It would have all stayed hidden, had Driver not mentioned the project earlier this week. “[It was] one of the coolest (expletive) scripts I had ever been a part of,” Driver said. “We presented the script to Lucasfilm. They loved the idea. They totally understood our angle and why we were doing it. We took it to Bob Iger and Alan Bergman and they said no. They didn’t see how Ben Solo was alive. And that was that. It was called ‘The Hunt for Ben Solo’ and it was really cool. But it is no more, so I can finally talk about it.” Neither Soderbergh nor Driver received any money for their work on the project, but Scott Z. Burns (Contagion), who wrote the final script, was reportedly paid over $3 million for his work.
Fans have really latched onto the scrapped project and even commissioned a plane to fly a “Save the Hunt for Ben Solo” banner over Disney Studios. It’s too early to say whether it will have any effect, but it does show Disney that there’s obviously interest in seeing more of Kylo Ren/Ben Solo.
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