Kylo Ren’s Redemption Arc Wasn’t Originally Planned in Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Adam Driver Says

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

Spoiler Warning: This article contains spoilers for Star Wars: Episodes 7, 8, and 9.

Kylo Ren’s redemption arc in the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy wasn’t originally planned, actor Adam Driver has said.

As reported by Collider, Driver admitted on The Rich Elsen Show that the original plan for Kylo Ren — who started off as the big bad in Star Wars: Episode 7 – The Force Awakens before returning to his original, good guy Ben Solo alias by Episode 9 – The Rise of Skywalker — was to have him turn more and more evil as the films went on.

“I had an overall arc in mind that he [likely Episode 7 – The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams] wanted to do, which then changed,” Driver said.

“His idea was 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, and he wanted to start at the opposite, where this character was the most confused and vulnerable, and by the end of the three movies would be most committed to the Dark Side.”

The Sequel Trilogy started off strong as the likes of Original Trilogy stars Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and Mark Hamill returned alongside new cast members like Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, and Oscar Isaac. But many fans turned sour on Star Wars upon the release of Episode 8 – The Last Jedi and even more so when Episode 9 – The Rise of Skywalker released.

Beyond fans not enjoying certain story developments, the main criticism came as a result of the films not feeling planned as a trilogy, with plot elements seemingly changing between each movie.

While some of these came as the result of the unforseeen and tragic death of Fisher, who played a central role in the Sequel Trilogy, others like Finn’s unfulfilled set up as Force-sensitive left many fans frustrated. Driver’s comments therefore come as further evidence of the lack of planning across the three films.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.