Disney offer disappointing answer when quizzed on The Hunt for Ben Solo

Disappointed Star Wars fans have again been told “the force is not with” them about Kylo Ren spin-off project The Hunt for Ben Solo.

Disappointed Star Wars fans have again been told “the force is not with” them about a Kylo Ren spin-off project.

Actor Adam Driver previously revealed he had pitched an idea to Lucasfilm and Disney about reprising his role in The Hunt for Ben Solo, only for Disney boss Bob Iger to reject it, but there has been a lengthy campaign for producers to reconsider the decision not to go ahead.

However, LucasFilm co-President Dave Filoni – who co-wrote and produced the franchise’s last big screen offering, The Mandalorian and Grogu – told Deadline at D23: “It’s not here, you won’t find it here. The force is not with us in that regard; I love the love you feel for it.”

Adam’s Star Wars co-star Daisy Ridley previously admitted she had “heard rumblings” about the project before it was made public.

During an interview with IGN, the 34-year-old acrtess- who played Rey in the sequel trilogy – said: “I knew a piece of it. I heard rumblings.

“I have lots of friends who are crew, so things always travel like that. But, whoa! When the story came out, no, I was like, ‘Oh, my God!’ And it was him that said it, right?”

She added: “It was funny because, like, ‘Oh, wow, Adam is saying it,’ and that’s the big surprise of the year.”

Since Adam, 42, revealed The Hunt for Ben Solo, fans have rallied together to get the wheels on the project turning again, and have hired planes to do fly-overs of the Walt Disney Studio lot in Burbank, California, with banners reading, “Save The Hunt for Ben Solo”.

Reflecting on the effort, Daisy praised fans for rallying together to convince Disney to make the movie.

The Cleaner actress said: “I do love when there is a collective of positivity. The way the internet seems to have rallied to try and get it to happen. I think one, it’s fantastic for us all. It’s good for us to all be united about something in a really positive way.

“Obviously, everyone knows he was a very popular character, but it was also lovely to think, ‘Wow, people really, really care and want this.’ I just … I like it. I like when people join forces – excuse the pun – from all around the world, all different sorts of people.

“I just love that the Star Wars fandom is such a huge and gorgeous array of different points of view and different people, and the fact that everyone is really behind this thing, I think, is just sort of lovely, in a time that is so f****** nuts for probably every single person on this Earth. I think it’s wonderful.

“So I was surprised, and honestly, I felt joyful about how it went down.”

When asked whether the fan efforts around The Hunt for Ben Solo had encouraged her to push harder for her Rey spin-off movie Star Wars: New Jedi Order, Ridley insisted she had trust in the process, and that it would be “worth the wait”.

She explained: “Honestly, there are scripts that I read five years ago, and now I’ve gone, ‘Oh, maybe they will actually happen.’

“I think over the years, I’ve learned how the reality of getting any film made is so massive. The hurdles are vast … But with this particularly, I know that incredible voices and creatives are part of it, and I know the wait will be worth it.”

When Driver revealed The Hunt for Ben Solo, the Marriage Story star also noted Steven Soderbergh was attached to direct.

Driver said the pair had worked on the movie’s story for two years before Iger rejected the project.

Soderbergh noted it was “a first” for Disney to refuse a completed script.