Daisy Ridley praises fan campaign for cancelled Star Wars sequel

Daisy Ridley has lauded the efforts of fans campaigning to save a Star Wars sequel, The Hunt For Ben Solo, that was scrapped.

• READ MORE: ‘Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker’ review: a sufficiently satisfying finale that gives fans exactly what they want

In October, Adam Driver made headlines after revealing in an interview that he and director Steven Soderbergh had written and pitched a new film in the Star Wars Universe, titled The Hunt For Ben Solo. The story would have brought his character Ben Solo, aka Kylo Ren, back from the dead. 

“I always was interested in doing another Star Wars,” he told Associated Press. “I had been talking about doing another one since 2021.” He called it “one of the coolest (expletive) scripts I had ever been a part of” and said that Lucasfilm were excited about the project, but ultimately executives at parent company Disney turned it down. “They didn’t see how Ben Solo was alive. And that was that,” he explained.

Fans hoping to see that project make it to the big screen executed some creative stunts to get their position heard. On October 23, Collider reported that a plane had been flying over Disney Studios in California with a banner reading: “Save #TheHuntForBenSolo”.

a plane in the sky & a billboard in times square, we’re serious about getting ben solo back #TheHuntForBenSolo pic.twitter.com/XhXAAx0dqy

— biscooti🍪 (@adamdriverss) October 25, 2025

Two days later, the outlet also revealed that a billboard had been purchased on Time Square, displaying a sign in the signature Star Wars font that said: “For Adam. No one’s ever really gone. Hope lives. Ben is alive! #THBS”. Pictures of both have circulated on social media.”

Now, Driver’s co-star Ridley has shown her appreciation for fans’ efforts, though she hadn’t heard much about the project until the campaign came about. “I knew a piece of it. I heard rumblings,” she told IGN. “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? It was funny because, like, ‘Oh, wow, Adam is saying it,’ and that’s the big surprise of the year.

“I do love when there is a collective of positivity,” Ridley continued. “The way the internet seems to have rallied to try and get it to happen. 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,” she continued. “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 fucking 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.”

This is not the first time the Star Wars fanbase has demanded a change in course from Disney. In 2017, a petition was started to remake The Last Jedi, the divisive second part of the sequel trilogy. The man who started the petition later admitted to regretting it.

Fans also showed their support for 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story, launching a #MakeSolo2Happen campaign that went viral in 2020.

Meanwhile, it was confirmed this week that the original Star Wars will be returning to cinemas in 2027 for its 50th anniversary.

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