Adam Driver says he wasn’t finished with Star Wars. The actor revealed in a new interview that he pitched Lucasfilm and Disney a spinoff movie centered on his character Ben Solo, which would’ve followed the events of The Rise of Skywalker.
“I always was interested in doing another Star Wars,” Driver told the Associated Press. “I had been talking about doing another one since 2021. Kathleen [Kennedy] had reached out. I always said: with a great director and a great story, I’d be there in a second. I loved that character and loved playing him.”
The Hunt for Ben Solo
Driver says the project, titled The Hunt for Ben Solo, was developed with Oscar-winning filmmaker Steven Soderbergh. The two worked from a script by Scott Z. Burns, which Driver called “one of the coolest [expletive] scripts I had ever been a part of.”
The film would’ve been a direct sequel to The Rise of Skywalker, exploring how Ben Solo might have survived and what became of him after his apparent death. According to Driver, Lucasfilm loved the idea and “totally understood our angle and why we were doing it.”
“We presented the script to Lucasfilm. They loved the idea. They totally understood our angle and why we were doing it,” Driver said.
But when the pitch went to Disney executives Bob Iger and Alan Bergman, the project was shut down. “They didn’t see how Ben Solo was alive,” Driver said. “And that was that.”
Soderbergh’s Statement
Soderbergh, known for Ocean’s Eleven and Traffic, confirmed the collaboration, joking that he “really enjoyed making the movie in [his] head” but was “sorry the fans won’t get to see it.”
What happened?
Disney deciding to not move forward on a new Star Wars movie came when Bob Iger and Disney put the breaks on new films following the massive disappointment of The Last Jedi (Rise of Skywalker was already in production).
As I first pointed out at the time, Disney decided to stop making new Star Wars movies, so we see Driver’s movie was one of the casualties.
What’s next for Star Wars?
While Adam Driver’s Ben Solo spinoff won’t be happening, Star Wars isn’t standing still. Lucasfilm currently has several projects on the horizon — all still under Disney’s cautious oversight.
Up first is The Mandalorian & Grogu, the first Star Wars movie to hit theaters since 2019, set for May 22, 2026. The film will reunite Pedro Pascal’s Din Djarin and the fan-favorite Grogu for a big-screen adventure that’s expected to tie together storylines from the Disney+ series.
Following that, Ahsoka Season 2 is also slated for 2026, continuing the story of Rosario Dawson’s Jedi exile after her confrontation with Grand Admiral Thrawn. The series will reportedly lead into the larger Mandoverse crossover film.
Then in 2027, Lucasfilm plans to release Star Wars: Starfighter, a new theatrical project that will return the franchise to its space-combat roots from Shawn Levy, starring Ryan Gosling.
