There are times when change can be good but more often than not, it affects something bigger like that in the story of the galaxy far, far away. Many would say that the Star Wars sequel trilogy is not the best one that the franchise produced and true enough, there were changes in the middle of the trilogy that were not supposed to happen at all but did and the other way around. As for Adam Driver's character, the actor revealed that Ben Solo was never supposed to have any redemption arc but it happened.
In the Star Wars sequel trilogy, Kylo Ren was introduced as the Jedi Killer and the Supreme Leader of the First Order being on the dark side of the force. Born by the end of the Galactic Civil War, Kylo Ren's parents are General Han Solo and Princess Leia Organa which means that he is also within the Skywalker bloodline. Given his lineage, he has raw strength in the Force but with this also comes being the grandchild of Darth Vader and he was groomed by Snoke to get into the dark side of the force.
His character arc, however, changed over the Star Wars sequel trilogy. Before dying, he finally embraced his origins of being Ben Solo and returned to the light side. However, Kylo Ren's journey was never supposed to go to the path where he embraces his origins as Ben Solo.
Is the Ben Solo redemption arc part of the original plan for Kylo Ren in Star Wars?
The sequel trilogy of Star Wars introduced Adam Driver as Kylo Ren/ Ben Solo in the narrative of the galaxy far, far away. The journey of Kylo Ren was revealed to be similar to the one Darth Vader had but what Adam Driver revealed in an interview at The Rich Eisen Show (via @adamdriverarchv) was that the Ben Solo origin was never meant to be embraced by Kylo Ren. Driver reveals:
I had an overall arc in mind that [ Star Wars: The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams] wanted to do, which then changed, but his idea was that -- almost the opposite journey of Vader, where Vader starts the most confident, the most committed to the Dark Side, and by the last movie, he's the most vulnerable and weak. He wanted to start at the opposite, this character was the most confused and vulnerable and, by the end of the three movies, would be the most committed to the Dark Side. I tried to keep that arc in mind regardless if that wound up not being the journey anyway, because it changed, obviously, while we were shooting. But I was still focused on that.
In the middle of the sequel trilogy, a change in the directors happened from J.J. Abrams to Rian Johnson taking over the trilogy. Critics point to Johnson making the deviation in the character of Kylo Ren but Driver was sure that it was Abrams who really changed the path of the character. He added:
With Rian, he took it into a different direction, but still tracked, with the character. Then the last one, it changed into being about [Kylo and Rey] and the dyad and things like that. And evolving into Ben Solo, that was never part of it. Well, Ben Solo, he was Ben Solo from the beginning, but it was never a version where we see Ben Solo, when I signed up for it.
Years have passed since the trilogy was unveiled and it remains under criticisms on how it turned out. While it is rare for a cast member to confirm some definitive details on their characters, at least, Driver knows that the change in his character's arc has a relevance in the bigger narrative of the galaxy far, far away. Now, everyone can be at peace knowing that the Ben Solo redemption arc was really not part of the plan for his character.
All the films of the Star Wars sequel trilogy are available to stream on Disney Plus.
