Ben Solo Stand Alone Film Not Happening

Steven Soderbergh has confirmed in an interview with The Playlist that he has walked away from his idea for a Ben Solo spin-off to add to the ever-growing Star Wars franchise by Lucasfilm. The project was titled Star Wars: The Hunt for Ben Solo and was set to star actor Adam Driver, who would have reprised the role for a fourth time following his appearances in the sequel trilogy.

Lucasfilm has overseen a leadership change following Katherine Kennedy stepping down from her role at the beginning of the year to have duo Dave Filoni and Lynwen Brennan take her place.

Despite a seemingly new era for ideas and releases, Soderbergh has revealed that his initially planned film focusing on the son of Hans Solo and Princess Leia has ceased development.

“Well, I don’t want to say [it had no influence], because then it makes it seem like, you know, ‘I watched “Andor,” and it had absolutely no impact on me,’ which is not true, it was great,” he shared in an interview with The Playlist. “But this was [all] before ‘Andor’ aired. Adam and I started talking, and this would have been almost three years ago now.”

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Andor is the Disney+ series serving as a prequel to the Rogue One film, which focuses on thief Cassian Andor.

The filmmaker also explained how star Driver was the central voice behind moving the project ahead. “It was strictly Adam saying, ‘I think there’s still somewhere to go with this character.’ That’s how it started,” he added.

Soderbergh did confirm his own stance that he “never in a million years would have found myself in that universe again.”

Driver played Ben Solo/Kylo Ren in The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker.

The Star Wars franchise is set to expand with an upcoming feature film spin-off to The Mandalorian & Grogu by Jon Favreau – in cinemas May 25th – and Star Wars: Starfighter by Shawn Levy, starring Ryan Gosling.

About the Author

Ros Tibbs

Editor

Ros is a film and lit graduate writing news and reviews at The People's Magazine. She also writes long-form film theory, film history, analytical or curated recommendations pieces on other platforms.

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