Disney Killed Kylo Ren, Again
JAKE COYLE
While discussing his new movie (with Jim Jarmusch) at the New York Film Festival, Driver clearly had something else he wanted to get off his chest:
“I always was interested in doing another ‘Star Wars,’” says Driver, who starred as Kylo Ren in the trilogy kicked off by “The Force Awakens.” “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.”
Interesting. I vaguely recall Ren dying – though, to be honest, I had to go back and double check because the third movie is almost completely forgettable retconning nonsense. And yes, he did die, or I suppose technically vanished, apparently having given his life force to save Rey. So maybe this would have been an earlier story about Kylo? A 'Knights of Ren' tale, perhaps? Apparently not!
Driver says he took a concept to Soderbergh for a film that would take place after 2019’s “The Rise of Skywalker.” That movie culminated in Ren’s redemption and apparent death. Driver had undertaken the trilogy with an arc in mind for Ren that inverted the journey of Darth Vader. As the trilogy evolved, it didn’t play out that way. Driver felt there was unfinished business for Kylo Ren, or as he was known before turning to the Dark Side, Ben Solo.
Yes, "Soderbergh" is Steven Soderbergh. The filmmaker most probably recognize as the director of the Ocean's trilogy, but I will always think of as the director who actually made George Clooney a movie star in the criminally forgotten Elmore Leonard adaptation of Out of Sight. He obviously has a resume filled with other great movies as well, not least of which is his latest one, the criminally unseen Black Bag.
Anyway, you had my curiosity, Adam Driver, now you have my attention.
Soderbergh and Rebecca Blunt outlined a story that the group then pitched to Kennedy, Lucasfilm vice president Cary Beck and Lucasfilm chief creative officer Dave Filoni. They were interested, so the filmmakers then pulled in Scott Z. Burns to write a script. Driver calls the result “one of the coolest (expletive) scripts I had ever been a part of.”
Okay, okay! A Kylo Ren post-death sequel written by the guy who has written several Soderbergh films, but also um, The Bourne Ultimatum alongside Tony Gilroy. I'm in. Sadly, Disney was not:
“We presented the script to Lucasfilm. They loved the idea. They totally understood our angle and why we were doing it,” Driver says. “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.”
Details, details! It's Star Wars! No one is ever really gone – that was a whole theme. Fucking Emperor Palpatine came back. Everyone comes back.
“It was called ‘The Hunt for Ben Solo’ and it was really cool,” adds Driver. “But it is no more, so I can finally talk about it.”
I suspect, what really killed it wasn't the pesky death, but the very real Star Wars fatigue that set in after Disney milked the IP dry during the pandemic. The third trilogy started strong but quickly went sour. But some of the other stuff was just pointless, or worse, bad. But this... this could have salvaged some of that!
Soderbergh, in a statement, said: “I really enjoyed making the movie in my head. I’m just sorry the fans won’t get to see it.”
Well never say never, with Iger soon to step back (and Kathleen Kennedy seemingly out the door soon as well). There's been quite a long Star Wars lull now, which will end soon. But (with a new Rey-focused film on hold) perhaps without any Skywalkers. One suspects they'll be back.
One more thing: Driver also at least indirectly talking about Heat 2 – a movie in which he's not yet officially cast, but has long been connected to:
Driver is reportedly attached to a pair of films that would reunite him with filmmakers he feels similarly about: Carax (“Annette”) and Mann. Mann’s “Heat 2” recently moved from Warner Bros. to Amazon MGM’s United Artists after Warner Bros. balked at the film’s cost. “Watching filmmakers not get the money they need is frustrating,” Driver says. “I don’t think I’m a value add. But I’m always down for the cause because I love those filmmakers and their films. I’d rather do a Michael Mann anything.”
M.G. Siegler
M.G. Siegler
M.G. Siegler