Entertainment
Steven Soderbergh Describes Disney’s Decision Not to Make ‘The Hunt for Ben Solo’ as “Insane”
It turns out the scrapped Ben Solo movie didn’t quietly fade away — it hit a wall. And according to Steven Soderbergh, that wall made zero sense. Speaking to BKmag, the filmmaker opened up about Disney’s decision not to move forward with The Hunt for Ben Solo, a project he had been developing alongside Adam Driver and writer Rebecca Blunt for two and a half years.
When asked whether it surprised him that the film appeared to be essentially greenlit before being killed for “story reasons,” Soderbergh didn’t sugarcoat it.
“No, it was no surprise that she was frustrated. We were all frustrated,” he said, referring to Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy. “You know, that was two and a half years of free work for me and Adam and Rebecca Blunt.”
Soderbergh also revealed that before Driver spoke publicly about the project’s demise, they agreed to keep things factual.
“When Adam and I discussed him talking about it publicly, I said, ‘Look, do not editorialize or speculate about the why. Just say what happened, because all we know is what happened. The stated reason was ‘We don’t think Ben Solo could be alive.’ And that was all we were told. And so there’s nothing to do about it, you know, except move on.”
Why Did ‘The Hunt for Ben Solo’ Not Get Made?
It never gets any easier to read, does it? That single explanation — that Disney leadership didn’t buy the idea that Ben Solo survived The Rise of Skywalker — was enough to shut the whole thing down before budget conversations even began. And when you consider some of the other stuff they’ve made…
“I thought the conversation was strictly going to be a practical one—where they go, what is this going to cost? And I had a really good answer for that. But it never even got to that point. It’s insane. We’re all very disappointed.”
Insane is obviously a strong word, but it’s hard not to read the frustration between the lines. Soderbergh admitted he had already “made the movie in [his] head,” and felt bad that audiences would never get to see it. For a franchise that has revived characters through clones, Force ghosts, and Palpatine-level resurrections, the idea that survival was a deal-breaker has definitely raised eyebrows.
For now, The Hunt for Ben Solo remains one of those great “what if” Star Wars stories.
- Release Date
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December 18, 2019
- Runtime
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142 minutes
- Writers
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Chris Terrio
- Producers
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Kathleen Kennedy, Michelle Rejwan, J.J. Abrams