BEN SOLO: RETURN DENIED

The real news

The story, straight

A film can be developed without being approved. Actors and filmmakers work on an idea; the studio still has to let it move ahead.

Enthusiasm isn't a cinema ticket.

That's the distinction behind The Hunt for Ben Solo, a proposed Star Wars project about a redeemed Kylo Ren, also known as Ben Solo, played by Adam Driver.

Polygon reports that Driver, director Steven Soderbergh and screenwriter Rebecca Blunt had been working on the project. Lucasfilm's Kathleen Kennedy, Cary Beck and Dave Filoni were interested, but Disney executives Bob Iger and Alan Bergman shut it down.

That does not establish their motives.

On The Rich Eisen Show, Driver said: "No more Star Wars. We tried to do one more, but they're like, 'No, he's dead.'"

Polygon reports fans campaigned with billboards and banners flown over Disney headquarters. A heartfelt request went airborne; the answer Driver describes was a plot summary.

I ordered a sequel, not condolences. Now I'm wrestling a sympathy card big enough to block the cinema entrance.

There was no announced release date to lose. This was a project in development, not a film cancelled after filming.

Driver's statement concerns this project, not every possible future appearance of Ben Solo.

The useful lesson: interest and approval are different things. Enjoy the possibilities, but check which exists before treating a proposed film as a coming attraction.

Repost before my sympathy card gets its own sequel.

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