“Star Wars” fans have begun a campaign to lobby Disney CEO Bob Iger to bring Adam Driver’s vision for a movie to life. Days after a fan hired a plane to fly over Disney Studios in California, another purchased a billboard in Times Square in support of the film.
The billboard in question went up at 1500 Broadway, between 43rd and 44th over Carlo’s Bake Shop and read, “For Adam. No one’s ever really gone. Hope lives. Ben is alive! #THBS” — a reference to Luke Skywalker’s line in “The Last Jedi,” Driver’s character Ben Solo, and the potential name of the movie, “The Hunt for Ben Solo.”
The person behind the billboard is B.D. Neagle, who told Collider, “I’m just a fan who thought Ben’s story wasn’t finished. I wanted to do what I could to support the fandom and everyone attached to ‘The Hunt for Ben Solo.’ The intent was to show Disney this is what fans actually want. ‘No one’s ever really gone’ I believe, says it all. If they could bring back Palpatine with one line, there are plenty of ways Ben could return that already fit into Star Wars lore.”
Driver first mentioned a potential film in an interview with the Associated Press.
“I always was interested in doing another ‘Star Wars,’” he said. “I had been talking about doing another one since 2021. Kathleen (Kennedy) had reached out. I always said: With a great director and a great story, I’d be there in a second. I loved that character and loved playing him.”
Driver even took his idea to Steven Soderbergh, who was interested in directing. He and Rebecca Blunt outlined the story and pitched it to Kennedy as well as Lucasfilm vice president Carrie Beck and Lucasfilm chief creative officer Dave Filoni. That group also liked the idea, and Scott Z. Burns came on board to write a script.
Unfortunately, Iger and Disney Entertainment co-chairman Alan Bergman weren’t as enthusiastic.
“We presented the script to Lucasfilm. They loved the idea. They totally understood our angle and why we were doing it,” Driver said. “We took it to Bob Iger and Alan Bergman and they said no. They didn’t see how Ben Solo was alive. And that was that.”
“It was called ‘The Hunt for Ben Solo’ and it was really cool,” Driver added. “But it is no more, so I can finally talk about it.”
