Bad news: Dave Filoni's update on Adam Driver's Ben Solo movie hunt isn't pretty

If you were holding out hope for Kylo Ren to come crashing back onto our screens, lightsabre in hand, I’ve got a bit of bad news for you. The long-rumoured Star Wars: Hunt for Ben Solo film with Adam Driver at the helm has officially hit a brick wall – and this isn’t just gossip from some bloke on Twitter.

Filoni Douses the Hype

Here’s the context: at this year’s D23, the ever-busy Dave Filoni was quizzed directly about whether Kylo Ren (or, you know, Ben Solo if he’s feeling less murdery) was on his way back to the big screen. Deadline put the question to him, and Filoni’s answer left zero room for speculation.

Filoni’s response was plain as daylight:

The force is not with us in that regard; I love the love you feel for it.

He couldn’t have been much clearer. If you came looking for Kylo, 'it’s not here'. No resurrections, no secret shoot on some back lot. At least not with his involvement right now.

Dave Filoni, now Lucasfilm co-President, has spoken – and it’s a dagger for anyone dreaming of seeing Ben Solo’s redemption get a proper cinematic run.

The Ben Solo Project That Wasn’t

And here’s where it gets a bit (well, very) frustrating for fans – this film wasn’t always a pipe dream. Back in 2025, Adam Driver and Steven Soderbergh actually pitched solid plans for The Hunt for Ben Solo, with the whole premise to take place after the events of The Rise of Skywalker. In theory, the story would trace Ben Solo’s attempts at redemption after his on-screen demise. Yes, I know – he’s dead. That was apparently the catch.

Driver and Soderbergh’s pitch for The Hunt for Ben Solo was intended to explore Ben’s life after The Rise of Skywalker, chasing down his possible journey from villain to hero.

• By early 2025, both Driver and Soderbergh admitted the plan had stalled and fallen through.
• Disney CEO Bob Iger and Entertainment co-chairman Alan Bergman reportedly cooled on the idea, so the studio dropped it like a hot rock.
• One enormous issue: in The Rise of Skywalker, Ben Solo dies. So the writers faced the age-old franchise headache of bringing back a character whose death was, let’s say, quite conclusive.

For the record, dead characters coming back is basically standard Star Wars procedure. If you can bring back Boba Fett (digested but not dead), Darth Maul (very much bisected), or Emperor Palpatine (pick a method), you can bring back anyone – or that’s what fans thought, anyway.

Not for want of effort, mind you. The rumour mill kept spinning, and vocal Star Wars supporters even managed to drum up a fan campaign urging Disney to revive the project. But so far, it’s all fallen on deaf (mouse) ears.

With Filoni shutting the door and no word of Hollywood necromancy coming from Lucasfilm’s top brass, The Hunt for Ben Solo is, for now, a dead end.