Scrapped Ben Solo Movie Has Star Wars Fans Asking One Big Question: What About Palpatine?

Adam Driver tried to bring Ben Solo back from the dead. Disney said no. And now Star Wars fans are staring directly at the franchise that once shrugged and said, basically, hey, death is flexible.

The pitch that hit a wall

Driver says he took a Ben Solo movie idea to Lucasfilm and Disney. The working title: 'The Hunt for Ben Solo.' According to him, Kathleen Kennedy and Dave Filoni were into it. The problem arrived higher up the chain, where the Disney brass did not bite.

"We took it to Bob Iger and Alan Bergman and they said no," Driver said. "They didn't see how Ben Solo was alive. And that was that."

For context: at the end of The Rise of Skywalker, Ben Solo - formerly Kylo Ren - brings Rey back with a Force healing move, seemingly giving her his own life force, and then he dies. Driver did not explain how the movie would solve the whole 'he is very much dead' part.

The sticking point vs. Star Wars history

Fans did what fans do and immediately pointed to a long tradition of Star Wars characters not staying dead. The response was basically: if the saga can hand-wave a few comebacks, how is Ben the line in the sand? A sampling of the receipts:

• Emperor Palpatine: killed in Return of the Jedi, Death Star blows up, then later returns anyway
• Darth Maul: cut in half and dropped down a shaft, later shows up again with new legs
• Boba Fett: swallowed by the Sarlacc, crawls out and gets his own series

I get the continuity headache. But this is Star Wars. Death has a pretty generous return policy.

So... could Ben Solo still come back?

Right now, Disney passed on Driver's pitch. That does not mean the idea is gone forever, just that this version is parked. If Ben ever does resurface, it would be far from the weirdest resurrection in the galaxy.

In the meantime, the franchise keeps moving: next up is Star Wars: Visions Volume 3, and the series heads back to theaters next year with The Mandalorian and Grogu.