new details on this incredible story at Disney

The ” The Hunt for Ben Solo gate” continues. After Adam Driver, it’s Steven Soderbergh’s turn to say more about the stillborn project Star Wars.

When it comes to the franchise Star Warsthings can move very quickly. On October 21, we learned from Adam Driver that Kylo Ren / Ben Solo, his character in the saga, almost had the right to a spin-off with The Hunt for Ben Solo. It was to take place after the events of the ninth opus. It didn’t take long for the noise to mobilize since, just a few days later, fans were already trying to resurrect the project buried by Disney executives. A plane with the banner “Save The Hunt for Ben Solo” even flew over the studios on October 23.

One of the reasons for this craze? The film was to be directed by a very prestigious director: Steven Soderbergh. The author of Traffic et Ocean’s Elevenwho previously directed Adam Driver in Logan Luckyhad been approached by the actor to develop a concept for a feature film. Concept first validated by Lucasfilm – leading to the hiring of Scott Z. Burns to write it – before being tossed in the trash. The controversy is growing and the filmmaker recently saw fit to give his opinion on the events.

KYLO UNLUCKY

It was on the Bluesky platform that Steven Soderbergh briefly commented on the aborted spin-off in two posts written on October 21 and 22 respectively:

“For the record, I didn’t like lying about the existence of The Hunt for Ben Solo, but it really had to remain a secret…until now!

Also, after the rejection of The Hunt for Ben Solo, I asked Kathleen Kennedy if it had ever happened that Lucasfilm submitted a completely written project to Disney only to have it refused. She told me no, it was the first time. »

Would he seek to create a riot by thus naming the guilty? The message could not be clearer, the spin-off had successfully passed the first checkpoint (Lucasfilm) and it was the second head of the franchise, Disney, who buried it. Such a revelation amounts to adding fuel to the fire: the mouse company, which purchased Lucasfilm for more than $4 billion in 2012, is already widely considered by fans to be responsible for just about everything that is wrong artistically in Star Wars since his return with The Force Awakens.

Soderbergh may hope that such transparency, coupled with the energy of aficionados, will lead Disney to resurrect the project (or loosen other languages). Nothing is less certain, the brand Soderbergh, once powerful at the box office with the saga Ocean’sis undoubtedly less popular among Hollywood financiers. His last two films, The Insider et Presence, are far from having been successes: the first with 43 million dollars in revenue for a budget between 50 and 60 million, the second accumulated 11 for a budget of 2.

More generally, the filmmaker has been producing semi-experimental works with fairly modest budgets for several years, far from mainstream canons. Perhaps this was the very reason for Disney’s refusal when the spin-off was still in discussions. Soderbergh fans will in any case be able to find him with The Christophersa black comedy with no release date yet, but which should arrive in our theaters in 2026. Those who are rather waiting for the return of the franchise Star Wars probably already know: The Mandalorian and Grogu will be in theaters on May 20, 2026.