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:: An ongoing episodic story of fan-fic set after Episode VI Return of the Jedi, and inspired by George Lucas' historical draft concepts ::
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The Hunt for Ben Solo
31st October 2025 |
In mid October something interesting happened. A story broke and developed, initiated by the actor Adam Driver, who played Kylo Ren / Ben Solo in the Disney Sequel Trilogy, who revealed that, in 2021, he and indie director Steven Soderbergh (and Soderbergh's wife, Jules Asner, writing under the pseudonym of Rebecca Blunt) had been preparing a movie known as 'The Hunt for Ben Solo' : this was to be set after Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker, and had even been developed to a pre-shooting stage by LFL ; the latter apparently took it to Disney, who struggled to understand how this particular dead character could convincingly return, and closed it down (by 2023). By all accounts, the tricky conundrum of the how of Ben's survival had been sufficiently processed and developed, to the extent that LFL was ready to begin filming. Contractural Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) had since expired, and the creatives involved were now free - or freer - to speak about the project.
A further report suggested that the Disney decision was more to do with internal politics as Bob Iger was pandering to a possible successor in Alan Bergman ; though, more recently, there are other contenders to the Disney throne.
And then, even more intriguingly, hot on the heels of this story development report, certain Ben Solo fans put together very quickly and very impressively a short media campaign to promote their desire to see this project be resurrected, or at least learn more details as to its demise. One report detailed a private plane flying over 'media city' Burbank (north of Hollywood) trailing a banner that said "Save the Hunt for Ben Solo" ; and then soon afterwards, an apparently separate media stunt showing a digital billboard in Times Square (New York) presenting for one day the slogan “For Adam. No one’s ever really gone. Hope lives. Ben is alive! #THBS”. The latter was conceived by a lady called Bri Neagle.... who apparently surfaced on the Star Wars News Net article comments to clarify :
"BD_Neagle : I promise, Disney did not pay me to put up that billboard. I wish they had. And, I think you are underestimating our love for Ben Solo. We worked quickly because we are upset. I love the chatter this has spun up, but no one told me to do it. I wanted to take a stand. I do think, however, if we are going to talk conspiracy, that LFL and Disney are in a power struggle. I don’t think LFL wanted the Acolyte canceled, because we are learning now that it’s tied to the KOR [Knights of Ren]. And, the Rey movie delayed all ties to The Hunt for Ben Solo. I hope that the Acolyte fans and the Ben Solo/Kylo Ren fans can unite. Unfortunately, screaming that things are hated for a decade has put us in this position. LFL has its hands tied by the mouse. Disney doesn’t understand how Star Wars fandom behaves, so negative in we get negative out. Look how badly the PT was treated, but we love it. They don’t understand, and it’s costing us things we probably will never know about. That being said, I want to believe there is a chance. Positive in, positive out. Otherwise, we’ve already lost."
.... the implication being, of course, that Disney is making poor short-sighted creative decisions, that is ultimately costing LFL projects and coherency.
And then finally, at the end of the month, a separate - but related ? - report on SWNN highlighted a recent interview with the actor Manny Jacinto who had played Qimir in The Acolyte, where the show's creator, Leslye Headland, was quoted [in the upcoming 'Art of The Acolyte' book, Jan 2026] as proposing "he is the first Knight of Ren, part of a Sith-adjacent cult that we know eventually survives.” And we see later, in the ST, how Ben Solo assumes that mantle, and in turn, how he defeats his own band of knights.
It's certainly an intriguing turn of events with revealing insights, that may or may not play out in due course.
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| As I did with the progression of the Virtual Edition Episode X, I will post below sections of the prose for Episode XI as I draft it.... here, Alana and her companions desperately fight off the remaining psychopathic Droidai that pursued them onto their ship....
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Inside the Jedi MPV starship, the Droidai towered over the passengers. Its sensors identified four Jedi, three of whom were injured ; in addition, there were three ugnaughts, a rodian, a weequay, a gammorrean, and a box power droid sat quietly in the far corner. It understood that the reptilian Jedi was absent, and it recognised that there would be at least one pilot in the cockpit. Its blue ray shielding glowed as it materialised into view.
The furry lupan Jedi snarled, and flicked his green lightsabre in front of him with a thrumm. The Rodian and the Weequay both sported hand blasters, presumably taken from a general armoury on board, but the droid had already determined that such rough-shod miners would not be skilled with gunfire. Likewise for the Gamorr and the three Ugs, who now held a variety of items found on the ship, a fire extinguisher, wrenches and spanners, and a coil of power cable.
The Droidai raised its left arm with its polarity-reversing nozzle towards the crew of miners, while at the same time activating its T-bar of three short red energy blades and turning it towards the Shistavanen Jedi.
Suddenly the ambient lighting in the cabin dimmed, and the ship gave a descending whine as power conduits found themselves starved of energy.
A whump sounded from the Droidai’s polarising nozzle, and the Rodian and the Weeq collapsed back onto the decking. At the same time, its two lateral shoto light-daggers began to spin forming the opaque personal shield at the end of its right arm, just as Moor’s green sword crashed down upon it.
A tell-tale red glow pulsed along its arm, and a gobbet of red energy burst from out of the central light-dagger towards the Jedi. Rick-Pa Moor side-stepped and circled his sabre to intercept the energy pulse, batting it away for it to flare into an empty bench seat.
The ship gave a jolt as its power levels reverted and the cabin lighting illuminated once more.
Alana, pale-faced, weak, and dazed in pain, nursing the self-inflicted stump of her right arm, intuited what had happened.
“It needs the local power source to draw energy for its emitter !” she whispered.
Rick-Pa Moor continued his assault against the droid. He spun on his heel, dropping his sword low, and slicing it up high as he rotated to face his opponent. The Droidai, having tracked his move with its heat and motion sensors, anticipated the up-cut, and dropped its shoto-shield to block the sword. The green blade glanced off the shield, and Moor followed its motion and stepped away from the droid, just as the left claw, now tilted and bearing its metal knife, slashed outwards. Moor took a pace back.
The Rodian and the Weequay had clambered back to their feet, and were desperately aiming their blasters at the Droidai. They managed to fire off two shots each, but the ray shielding deflected the attack and the laser bolts bounced into the cabin wall, causing small but harmless explosions.
Dixon called out to his furry comrade, and threw his sword hilt into the fray.
Moor caught the weapon in his left hand, igniting it, and twirled both green blades at the Droidai, who, with just the one shield for defence, stepped back. The Jedi pressed the attack, the two lightsabres glancing off either the shoto-shield or the blue ray shielding, with the droid raising its three other arms to take the blows.
The door to the elevator opened and the reptilian Jedi Nayton appeared, his blue lightsabre glowing brightly. He took in the scene, and then bounded across the cabin, his thick tail flicking side to side.
The Droidai, still deflecting the twin lightsabre attacks with its arms, pointed its shoto light-dagger towards the newcomer, and a pulse of red energy shot out from the point. Nayton effortlessly parried the bolt as he closed the space between them. At the same time, the Droidai aimed its polarising emitter at the furry Shistavenan and the cabin lights briefly dimmed once more and the ship’s background hum dwindled.
Rick-Pa Moor was knocked a pace or two to the side, just as Nayton intervened and with the illumination resuming. The lizard swung his sword horizontally at the droid, and the shoto-shield was brought back around to meet it. As the blue sword was parried, the droid stabbed out with its bladed hand, and another crimson pulse glowed along the droid’s right arm.
The shoto dagger spewed out a second bolt of energy, and Nayton circled his sword, the blast splaying out in an arc of fiery streaks.
Rick-Pa Moor returned to the duel, pointing one green blade at the droid, and holding the other at readiness above his head.
Alana turned to her two fellow injured Jedi.
“We can’t help the fight, but we could trap the droid in a push-pull tandem,” she suggested with a pained whisper. “The Ugs are eager to join the fight,” she noted with a glance.
The Ugnaughts were tensing, gripping their makeshift weapons tightly, and chattering strategy to each other in their snorted language.
Both Jedi nodded, but Dixon pointed out how weak they were. Blood had completely stained his tunic from the top right of his chest and down.
“You and Alana share the pulling,” Sihram offered, “and I’ll do the pushing.”
With their opponent more fully engaged, Boss Serrad, the chief Ug, grunted and barked in ugese, and the three small hogs dived forward at the droid. They battered the Droidai with the wrenches and spanners held firmly in their pudgy hands, whilst Serrad dived low and fed one end of the power cable through the skeletal legs and up towards the core. The blue ray shielding was designed for energy assaults, not close quarters combat, so the Ug’s nimble hands had no difficulty in quickly entwining the cable. The Gamorrean came up behind the Ugs, lifted the extinguisher high, and squirted a cloud of gas and foam towards the head of the droid. Two of the three crimson eyes disappeared from view.
Serrad pushed the jack end of the power cable up against the spinal rod in the core of the droid’s frame, then jumped back with a squeal. Catching up the far end of the cable off the decking, he scurried over to a boxy power droid sat in the corner. He pushed the posi-jack into a spare plug housing on the droid and flicked an activator switch.
Serrad glanced back at the Droidai and squealed for his crew to step aside.
At the same time, a call of inconcerto came from the three injured Jedi who had raised their hands and now trapped the droid in a Force push-pull tension. The skeletal frame was suddenly wrenched into a contorted shape as the mysterious cosmic energy held the droid fast.
A flash of white electricity danced across the droid’s frame for a few moments, and the blue shielding flickered and disappeared. The droid physically stuttered and paused, and then appeared to power down as it leaned forward, the glow of its three red eyes fading .
Rick-Pa Moor stepped forward, both sabres extended in front of him, and he peered closely at the droid, who was still held fast by both the injured Jedi’s Force-grip, as well as the items caught up in its legs.
With a loud hiss, Nayton stepped in close and neatly stabbed his blue lightsabre between the droid’s outer casements and into the central core. Likewise, Moor deactivated his two swords and jabbed them through the neck plates, and then re-ignited them. Two green blades sizzled into the core rod just below the head.
As before, the rod didn’t break or explode, but appeared to melt under the onslaught of the lightsabres.
Nayton growled, and clenched a clawed fist. The point where his sword blade met the rod slowly buckled and twisted. Moor deactivated his swords, and furrowed his brow, his gaze intent on the upper section of the rod. This too began to deform.
There came a whir from the droid, and one of its three eyes – the one at the base of the triangle – lit up. Their opponent was clearly trying to ‘reboot’ its systems sufficiently enough to continue its mission.
“Get it out to the airlock now !” cried out Alana. “Sihram, can you get the pilot to climb to the atmosphere ?”
Nayton deactivated his sword, and with his left hand pushed the entrapped droid to the decking. Both he and Moor then raised their hands, and the contorted skeleton rose and hovered between them. The two Jedi quickly moved to the far end of the cabin, where a door swished open, and they awkwardly manoeuvred their load into the corridor.
Sihram, whose left hand and wrist had been crushed by the Droidai earlier, fumbled for her comlink at her belt with her right hand. Thumbing it on, she hailed the cockpit.
“Pilot, can you get us space-side ?” she demanded.
“The Ar-Five has repaired the att-thrusters well enough,” the tinny voice replied. “The stabilisers are out and we’re leaking coolant, we’re not going home any time soon, but I think I can get us higher for a short while. What ya got in mind ?”
“We’re sending the droid outta the airlock !”
“I copy that !” he replied with a whoop.
Further along the access corridor, Nayton and Moor had reached the airlock, and had unceremoniously dumped the droid to the deck. With the inner door now shut, Moor was quickly cycling the release sequence. The Droidai was jerking and spasming as it tried to sit up. The release program button lit green awaiting final activation. Through the small round porthole window on the far door, Nayton could see the sky tone blend from blue to purple to black.
The Droidai tried to raise its shoto-dagger towards the inner airlock door. The lizard Jedi hissed urgently at his companion, and Moor nodded.
The lupan Jedi jabbed at the green button, and with a pneumatic hiss the far airlock door slid open, and the droid tumbled out. The hatch closed fast.
From the starboard side of the MPV, the Droidai quickly fell away from the ship, and plunged into the top of the atmosphere. It wildly let out a single gobbet of red energy that splashed across the hull of the ship, and then it disappeared into a growing fiery conflagration.
Klaxons began to sound on the vessel, and the ship banked sharply as it passed through the thermosphere and returned to the stratosphere, small flames licking at the hull plating.
Inside the ship, from pilot to Jedi to mining crew to bureaucrat, everyone sighed with relief.
“Setting course for Vitagaer’s spaceport,” announced the pilot over the ship’s open comm. “It might be a bumpy ride in, folks !”
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| Nathaniel Reed, 31st October 2025 |
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