Disney Has Restored My Hope For Star Wars: The Hunt For Ben Solo Actually Happening

Published Aug 17, 2026, 5:00 PM EDT Cooper Hood is the Associate Editor for all new movie releases, in theaters and on streaming. In addition to writing articles about these titles and upcoming releases, he also oversees content planning for each, ensuring that ScreenRant continues to cover major releases for months after their release. He has written various reviews for ScreenRant that appear on Rotten Tomatoes, coordinated Oscars and San Diego Comic-Con coverage, appeared on CNN to talk about Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, and done select interviews with talent over the years. In late 2025, it was revealed that Adam Driver had pitched Lucasfilm a Ben Solo-focused Star Wars film called The Hunt for Ben Solo. Meant to take place after Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Driver worked with director Steven Soderbergh to develop the pitch. But the promising idea hit a dead end once it came to Disney executives Bob Iger and Alan Bergman, who opted not to give it a greenlight, despite The Hunt for Ben Solo having Lucasfilm's approval. Developed in secret, it wasn't until Driver spilled the beans in October 2025 that fans learned Disney decided not to move forward with a Ben Solo movie. Even in the aftermath of The Rise of Skywalker, appreciation for Driver's portrayal of Solo left most wanting to see more of him. That's why once the news got out, a contingent of the Star Wars fandom rallied around the canceled movie. Despite the best efforts of fans to support the movie and plead with Disney to reverse its decision, The Hunt for Ben Solo looked like it would forever be included in the list of Star Wars movies that were canceled. Soderbergh mentioned in April 2026 that he had moved on, with Lucasfilm's new leadership under Dave Filoni reaffirming there were no plans to make the film after the online support. A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far, Far Away · Eight Questions How Well Do You Know Star Wars? “The Force will be with you. Always.” 🗡️Jedi OrderLight-side guardians ⚡The SithRule of two ⚙️The RebellionA new hope 🪓Bounty HuntersThis is the way 👑The EmpireOrder 66 PUNCH IT! → 01 The original Star Wars film — later retitled Episode IV: A New Hope — opened in just 32 American theatres and proceeded to become the highest-grossing film of its era, redefining what summer blockbusters could be. In which year did it premiere? A1975 B1977 C1979 D1980 ✓ Correct! 1977 — specifically May 25. 20th Century Fox had so little faith in the project they only opened it in 32 theatres at first; queues quickly stretched around the block, and the film expanded to over 1,000 screens within months. It earned $307 million in its initial domestic run, won six Academy Awards (with another four nominations) and inverted Hollywood’s economics for the next 50 years. ✗ Wrong. The answer is 1977. 1975 is when the script was being shopped around. 1979 is when Star Trek: The Motion Picture released as a Star Wars-shaped countermove. 1980 is The Empire Strikes Back. The original Star Wars is May 25, 1977. NEXT → 02 A New Hope’s writer-director was a then-32-year-old American Graffiti veteran who’d struggled to get the project greenlit and famously took back-end profit and merchandising rights in lieu of a higher salary — the deal that would build a billion-dollar company. He returned to direct the prequels but stepped away from the original-trilogy sequels. Name him. ASteven Spielberg BGeorge Lucas CFrancis Ford Coppola DIrvin Kershner ✓ Correct! George Lucas. The merchandising rights he kept (because Fox didn’t value them) became the financial bedrock of Lucasfilm and the basis of the modern toys-and-licensing megabusiness. After A New Hope, Lucas produced but didn’t direct Empire Strikes Back (Irvin Kershner) or Return of the Jedi (Richard Marquand), then directed all three prequels (1999–2005). He sold Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012 and stepped away from creative control of the sequels. ✗ Wrong. The answer is George Lucas. Steven Spielberg was Lucas’s close friend (and the godfather of his post-A-New-Hope career) but never directed a Star Wars film. Coppola was Lucas’s mentor at USC and at American Zoetrope. Irvin Kershner directed Empire Strikes Back. The original is Lucas’s. NEXT → 03 In 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back, Darth Vader delivers cinema’s most-misquoted line at the climax of his Cloud City duel with Luke Skywalker. Vader severs Luke’s hand and reveals their relationship. The exact line is — for the record — “No, I am your father.” What relationship does it confirm? AVader is Luke’s uncle BVader is Luke’s father (Anakin Skywalker) CVader is Obi-Wan’s brother DVader is Han’s father ✓ Correct! Vader is Anakin Skywalker, Luke’s father. The reveal was so jealously guarded that Mark Hamill was only told the real line on set the day they shot it (the script said “Obi-Wan killed your father”), and even James Earl Jones recorded the dub without knowing the full plot context. The line — commonly misquoted as “Luke, I am your father” — rewrote what trilogies could pull off and is broadly considered cinema’s most famous twist. ✗ Wrong. The answer is that Vader is Luke’s father, Anakin Skywalker. The whole foundation of the Skywalker saga collapses to this single twist: Anakin (the Jedi prodigy of the prequels) becomes Vader after his fall. Luke and Leia are revealed in Return of the Jedi to be his twin children, separated at birth. NEXT → 04 Yoda — the green, ear-twitching Jedi Master — was puppeted and voiced from his Empire Strikes Back debut through the prequels and the sequels by a single Muppet-show-veteran performer who also voices Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear. Name him. AJim Henson BFrank Oz CSteve Whitmire DBrian Henson ✓ Correct! Frank Oz — longtime Jim Henson collaborator and voice/puppet work on Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, Sam Eagle and Grover. Oz puppeted Yoda directly through The Phantom Menace before CGI took over for Attack of the Clones onward, but he’s continued to voice the character through the sequels and animated series. Yoda’s syntax was developed jointly by Lucas and Oz to feel old, foreign and hard-won. ✗ Wrong. The answer is Frank Oz. Jim Henson was Oz’s mentor and collaborator (he created the Muppets) but didn’t voice Yoda. Steve Whitmire took over Kermit after Henson’s 1990 death. Brian Henson is Jim’s son and runs the Henson company today. Yoda is Frank Oz’s. NEXT → 05 In a deal that reshaped Hollywood, Disney acquired Lucasfilm Ltd. for $4.05 billion in cash and stock — bringing Star Wars, Indiana Jones, ILM and Skywalker Sound under the Disney umbrella. The deal also kicked off the sequel trilogy production. In what year did Disney close the acquisition? A2009 B2010 C2012 D2014 ✓ Correct! 2012 — specifically October 30. The deal was announced with simultaneous reveal that a Star Wars Episode VII was being developed for a 2015 release. Lucas had been quietly preparing his exit from Lucasfilm for years; Kathleen Kennedy had been brought in as co-chair months earlier specifically to take over. The Force Awakens came out three years later, in December 2015, kicking off the modern era. ✗ Wrong. The answer is 2012. 2009 is when Disney acquired Marvel ($4 billion). 2010 is the year before Lucas began signalling exit plans. 2014 is when production proper began on The Force Awakens. Lucasfilm joined Disney on October 30, 2012. NEXT → 06 The Mandalorian launched as Disney+’s flagship original on November 12, 2019 — the day the streaming service itself launched. Created by Jon Favreau and run by Dave Filoni, the show centres on a helmeted bounty hunter who reluctantly becomes a foster father to “The Child” (Grogu). What is the Mandalorian’s real name? ABoba Fett BCobb Vanth CDin Djarin DBo-Katan Kryze ✓ Correct! Din Djarin — played by Pedro Pascal under the helmet (with body double Brendan Wayne handling much of the physical work). The Mandalorian is widely credited with reviving Star Wars on TV, popularising the StageCraft LED-volume virtual production technology now used across Hollywood, and turning baby Yoda — Grogu — into the meme-economy phenomenon of late 2019. Three seasons have aired with a feature film, The Mandalorian & Grogu, set for May 2026. ✗ Wrong. The answer is Din Djarin. Boba Fett is the famous bounty hunter from the original trilogy, with his own Disney+ spinoff (The Book of Boba Fett, 2021). Cobb Vanth is the Tatooine marshal played by Timothy Olyphant. Bo-Katan Kryze is the Mandalorian princess played by Katee Sackhoff. The Mandalorian himself is Din Djarin. NEXT → 07 Order 66 — the secret directive that turns the Republic’s clone troopers against their Jedi commanders and effectively ends the Jedi Order — is dramatised in the climactic third act of which prequel film? AEpisode I: The Phantom Menace BEpisode II: Attack of the Clones CEpisode III: Revenge of the Sith DRogue One ✓ Correct! Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005). Palpatine’s “Execute Order 66” comm to the clone armies leads to the methodical, planet-by-planet liquidation of the Jedi Order — one of the saga’s most operatic sequences, scored to John Williams’ “Anakin’s Betrayal” cue. The same film features Anakin’s fall to the Dark Side, the Mustafar duel with Obi-Wan, and his rebirth as Darth Vader in the suit. Widely re-evaluated as the best of the prequels. ✗ Wrong. The answer is Revenge of the Sith. Phantom Menace ends with Qui-Gon’s death and the unveiling of Darth Maul. Attack of the Clones ends with the Clone Wars beginning. Rogue One is set just before A New Hope, after Order 66 has long since happened. The Order 66 sequence is the climax of Episode III. NEXT → 08 Andor (2022–25) is widely regarded as the most adult, politically literate Star Wars project ever made — a slow-burn prequel to Rogue One charting Cassian Andor’s radicalisation against the Empire. The series was created and showrun by a writer/director best known for the original Bourne trilogy and Michael Clayton. Name him. ATony Gilroy BRian Johnson CJon Favreau DDave Filoni ✓ Correct! Tony Gilroy. He’d previously been brought in for extensive Rogue One reshoots in 2016, and Lucasfilm gave him near-total creative independence on Andor. Season 1 (12 episodes, 2022) is widely regarded as Star Wars’ finest dramatic writing ever; Season 2 (also 12 episodes, in four three-episode jumps across 2025) closes the gap to Rogue One’s opening scene. Gilroy’s prior credits: Bourne Identity / Supremacy / Ultimatum / Legacy, plus directing Michael Clayton (2007). ✗ Wrong. The answer is Tony Gilroy. Rian Johnson directed The Last Jedi (2017). Jon Favreau created The Mandalorian and is Lucasfilm’s Disney+-era animation/live-action lieutenant. Dave Filoni runs the Filoniverse (Clone Wars, Rebels, Ahsoka, the upcoming Heir to the Empire film). Andor is Tony Gilroy’s. REVEAL MY RATING → The Force Has Spoken · Final Tally Your Galactic Standing 🗡️ / 8 Jedi Master — or moisture farmer on Tatooine? ⤴ ANOTHER GO Rather than the chances being at zero that The Hunt for Ben Solo will see the light of day, Disney has created a new hope. Driver has linked up with the studio once more to play a key role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe at the same time that Filoni's tune has slightly shifted. It's enough to offer some semblance of optimism that we haven't seen the last of Ben Solo after all. Adam Driver's Disney Return Is A Positive Sign For More Ben Solo Credit: Abaca Press/INSTARimages After Disney execs axed The Hunt for Ben Solo, it was unclear where Driver's relationship with the studio was at. He was clearly passionate about the idea and wanted to make this Star Wars movie, so having higher ups prevent that due to concerns over explaining Ben's return or budgeting could have pushed him away. But that is not the case now that Driver is playing X-Men's villain in the MCU. He was officially confirmed to play Mister Sinister during D23. While Driver is only confirmed to be in the single Marvel movie, this is a role that should keep him as part of the expansive universe for multiple films. Essentially, he's agreed to work with Disney for years and take on a villain role in another one of their biggest franchises. That is good news for him playing Ben Solo again. It confirms that he still has a good relationship with Disney. Driver has always had a strong relationship with Lucasfilm, so there does not seem to be any studio politics that would get in the way of him coming back to the galaxy far, far away, whether for The Hunt for Ben Solo or a different Star Wars project altogether. One almost has to wonder if Driver could have leveraged Marvel's well-chronicled years-long pursuit of him in negotiations with Disney. Could he have made an arrangement where Disney greenlights The Hunt for Ben Solo if X-Men is a hit? That seems unlikely. Even without an official deal, Driver is savvy enough to know that doing the MCU role can re-establish him as a major box office star and possibly help him convince Disney to make The Hunt for Ben Solo in a few years. With Driver back in the Disney family, it's notable that Filoni was also then pressed with questions about The Hunt for Ben Solo's future at D23. Variety was the first to ask Lucasfilm's president about the canceled movie, and he noted that he knew he would be asked about it. His official response was "We're not making [The Hunt for Ben Solo] right now," but it was accompanied by him doing the Jedi Mind Trick hand wave. The response and gesture indicate fans shouldn't lose all hope in The Hunt for Ben Solo being made. His quote is notable for saying "right now," suggesting that the door is not complebox tely closed on this project. Doing the Jedi Mind Trick signal also could fuel some positivity. It may have been (probably was) just him messing around, but it also could be seen as him trying to conceal information he otherwise can't disclose. Filoni was also asked by Deadline about the film's status at the convention, and he had a similar, but different, response. He said, "It's not here. You won't find it here. The Force is not with us in that regard." It's another quote that makes it clear the movie isn't happening right now and wouldn't be discussed at D23 but also still left room for hope. It would have been very easy for Filoni to come out and say The Hunt for Ben Solo is not happening now and never will happen. Him saying that the movie is not being made "right now" and not "here [at D23]" leaves room for interpretation that Lucasfilm's new president is still considering how the studios and Driver can make a Ben Solo feature down the road. The Hunt For Ben Solo Would Be An Easy Win For Star Wars Now It would make a lot of sense for the Star Wars franchise to find a way to get The Hunt for Ben Solo made. There is a certain level of demand for it based on its online and real-life campaigns. While Disney and Lucasfilm need a lot more interest to avoid another Star Wars movie bombing at the box office after The Mandalorian and Grogu, there is reason to believe general audiences would be enthusiastic to see Driver back in this role. Lucasfilm would also get an easy win by getting The Hunt for Ben Solo made, as it would show that they do listen to fans in positive ways. The studio has already proven it listens to fans with how it pivoted the Skywalker Saga after The Last Jedi's backlash, but its decisions from there only caused more divide within the fandom. The Hunt for Ben Solo is a chance to unite the community around the excitement of Ben's return and a feeling of victory that fans are getting what they want. The benefits for Lucasfilm would extend to how the studio and Star Wars as a franchise are perceived. Getting Soderbergh back to make the movie would do wonders for enlisting other top-tier directors, especially if he goes on to sign the studio's praises about his freedom while making the film. Additionally, it could help erase some concerns that directors could spend years working on Star Wars movies that never happen. There's no downside of The Hunt for Ben Solo. Star Wars Returning To The Sequel Era Is Happening One Way Or Another Credit: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures via MovieStillsDB The Hunt for Ben Solo would be a natural way to expand the sequel era of Star Wars that has been ridiculously successful for Disney and Lucasfilm financially speaking. It's why Lucasfilm is going back to this section of galaxy repeatedly in the years ahead with its upcoming Star Wars movies in development. A standalone movie for Daisy Ridley's Rey has been in development for years that would take place after The Rise of Skywalker. Simon Kinberg is known to be developing a new trilogy, which might just be Episodes X, XI, and XII. Even Ryan Gosling's upcoming Star Wars: Starfighter is confirmed to take place after the sequel trilogy's events and could connect to it somehow. The influx of sequel era programming makes Ben Solo's return all the more feasible. It would be most exciting if it came in The Hunt for Ben Solo, but elements of his and Soderbergh's pitch could always wind up being infused into any of these other projects to facilitate Driver's come back. Hopefully, it's a matter of when and where we see Ben Solo again, not if he ever comes back.