Steven Soderbergh's surprising reveal of ‘Star Wars’ script rejection

Hollywood filmmaker Steven Soderbergh has revealed that Disney rejected his completed Star Wars script titled The Hunt for Ben Solo, a move he says was a first for the studio.

The Oscar-winning director shared on Bluesky that he had been forced to keep the project a secret until now.

“For the record,” he wrote, “I did not enjoy lying about the existence of The Hunt for Ben Solo, but it really did need to remain a secret… until now!”

According to Soderbergh, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy confirmed that Disney had never before turned down a finished Star Wars script.

The project, co-written with Adam Driver, would have followed Ben Solo, the son of Han Solo and Leia Organa, after his redemption arc in The Rise of Skywalker (2019).

Driver told the Associated Press that the story was “one of the coolest (expletive) scripts I had ever been a part of,” adding that Disney executives Bob Iger and Alan Bergman rejected it, claiming they “didn’t see how Ben Solo was alive.”

Despite the rejection, fans have rallied online, launching the hashtag #TheHuntForBenSolo and even flying a banner over Walt Disney Studios reading “SAVE #THEHUNTFORBENSOLO.”

The revelation has reignited debate over Disney’s creative control of the Star Wars franchise and whether Soderbergh’s vision will ever see the light of day.

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