STAR WARS Fans Launch Billboard Campaign in Times Square to Save Scrapped Ben Solo Movie

It was revealed a few days ago that Adam Driver and Steven Soderbergh’s secret Star Wars project, The Hunt for Ben Solo, made it further into development than fans realized, only to be shut down by Disney execs just before it could take off.

Driver shocked fans with the reveal that he had been working on a Star Wars film alongside 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. Now fans are responding to the decision with a funny campaign they’re hoping will bring the project back from the dead.

Days after Star Wars fans paid for a plane to fly a banner reading “Save The Hunt for Ben Solo” over Disney Studios in Burbank, Calif., Collider reported that a billboard popped up at 1500 Broadway, between 43rd and 44th, above Carlo’s Bake Shop. The sign read “For Adam. No one’s ever really gone. Hope lives. Ben is alive! #THBS.” 

Driver said in a recent interview with AP, “I always was interested in doing another Star Wars,” said Driver. “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. 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.”

During the interview, Driver revealed how the script was received and how the project was shut down. “We presented the script to Lucasfilm. They loved the idea. They totally understood our angle and why we were doing it,” Driver said. “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.”

Soderbergh commented on Driver’s reveal on his Bluesky account, confirming the existence of the project. “For the record, 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! I really enjoyed making the movie in my head,” added Soderbergh. “I’m just sorry the fans won’t get to see it.”

But maybe we will if enough of a fuss is made. Do you want to see The Hunt For Ben Solo?

via: Variety