Steven Soderbergh “Frustrated” He Wasted “Two and a Half Years” of His Life Working on ‘The Hunt For Ben Solo’

Last year, we learned that Lucasfilm had greenlit a new “Star Wars” film to be directed by Steven Soderbergh — Adam Driver was set to return as Ben Solo (aka Kylo Ren), with the entire project titled “The Hunt for Ben Solo.”

Sadly, the movie was canceled by Disney’s Bob Iger for “story reasons,” despite then-Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy pushing hard for the film to happen and later expressing genuine frustration over how the project was scrapped.

Soderbergh, in his first in-depth interview since the news broke, told BKMAG that he now feels like he wasted “two and a half years” of his life, with no pay, preparing for his Star Wars project.

We were all frustrated. You know, that was two and a half years of free work for me […] And so there’s nothing to do about it, you know, except move on. And as I posted, I’d kind of made the movie in my head, and just felt bad that nobody else was going to get to see it. I thought the conversation was strictly going to be a practical one — where they go, what is this going to cost? And I had a really good answer for that. But it never even got to that point. It’s insane. We’re all very disappointed

A recent report confirmed that “Ben Solo” had a finished screenplay and was moving into early prep and staffing. Scott Z. Burns was brought on to finalize the script, reportedly earning $3 million — more than any writer in Lucasfilm history. Burns had prior connections to Star Wars, having contributed uncredited work on “Rogue One” before Tony Gilroy completed that film.

High-level Lucasfilm executives, including Kathleen Kennedy, were deeply involved in development and reportedly pleased with the scripts. Sources indicate the delay came from Disney executives, who raised concerns over narrative continuity — specifically, how Ben Solo could be alive after “The Rise of Skywalker.”

Plenty of Star Wars fans have been fuming over Disney’s decision — according to Collider, some even funded a plane to fly a banner over Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California, reading “Save The Hunt for Ben Solo.”

Is the project truly dead? That’s the question on everybody’s mind, especially with the departures of Iger and Kennedy. Perhaps their successors might eventually revisit “The Hunt for Ben Solo” one of these days.