Lucasfilm Greenlit the Script THE HUNT FOR BEN SOLO Before Disney Shut it Down
Adam Driver and Steven Soderbergh’s secret Star Wars project, The Hunt for Ben Solo, made it further into development than we realized, only to be shut down by Disney execs just before it could take off.
Earlier this week, Driver shocked fans with the reveal that he had been working on a Star Wars film alongside Steven Soderbergh and writer Scott Z. Burns.
The film, which would’ve resurrected Ben Solo after his death in The Rise of Skywalker, had Lucasfilm’s full support. But Disney’s top brass, Bob Iger and Alan Bergman, weren’t sold and they killed it.
According to The Playlist, the project wasn’t just a casual pitch. It had already been internally greenlit by Lucasfilm under the codename “Quiet Leaves”.
A full script was finished, a crew was being assembled, and it was entering pre-production when it was finally brought to Disney for final approval. That’s when it got the axe.
The project had serious creative weight behind it. Not only was Burns on board, reportedly earning “more than any screenwriter in Lucasfilm history,” but Disney had already purchased a detailed beat sheet from Soderbergh and his wife Jules Asner, who wrote under the pen name Rebecca Blunt. Everything was in place. Script. Budget. Start date.
But according to Playlist, Iger and Bergman turned it down, confused about how Kylo Ren could still be alive after sacrificing himself. Apparently, they didn’t want to dive into that corner of the lore.
Adding fuel to the fire, a Bluesky account believed to belong to Soderbergh (@Bitchuation, the same handle he previously used on Twitter) confirmed the film’s existence just days after Driver’s comments. On October 22, the account posted:
“I did not enjoy lying about the existence of THE HUNT FOR BEN SOLO, but it really did need to remain a secret…until now!”
He followed up with this:
“Also, in the aftermath of the HFBS 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.”
With both Driver and Soderbergh now openly discussing the project, it seems safe to say it’s officially dead in the water. Playlist reported that both believe the film will never see the light of day and are no longer under any kind of NDA. So don’t expect a secret leak à la Deadpool.
In a side note, Playlist also clarified rumors that David Fincher had been trying to launch a Star Wars film set between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. That one didn’t make it past early talks with Lucasfilm and never got close to becoming real.
It’s pretty wild that Disney killed this Hunt For Ben Solo project!