Kylo Ren fans are out of luck if they were hoping to see Adam Driver return to Star Wars. For better or worse, Driver rose to fame as Kylo Ren – leader of the First Order grandson of Darth Vader – in the Star Wars sequels. He redefined Star Wars villainy for a new generation, but after The Rise of Skywalker Adam Driver has officially washed his hands of the franchise. Some of his co-stars have expressed a similar sentiment after the sequel trilogy concluded, but Driver is unique in saying that he didn’t enjoy his time in Star Wars due to his own grumpiness.
Adam Driver Says He Made Star Wars “More Exhausting” Than Necessary
Starting in 2015, Adam Driver joined the Star Wars franchise as Kylo Ren, aka Ben Solo, the son of Leia and Han. Once a student of Luke Skywalker‘s ramshackle Jedi Order, Kylo fell to the Dark Side and became a member of the First Order, leading the Knights of Ren and looking to become the next Darth Vader. Throughout the sequel trilogy, he’s opposed by Finn, Poe, and Rey, and he bears a special connection with the latter that Rise of Skywalker called “a dyad in the force.”
Unfortunately for Kylo, he sacrificed himself to revive Rey at the end of Rise of Skywalker. This is good news for Adam Driver, however, as he’s moved on to other projects and reportedly looks back on his time in Star Wars as “exhausting” and has said he’s not coming back. His co-star John Boyega has expressed a similar feeling in the past, but Driver has admitted that he made the whole thing more exhausting than necessary by not being aware of the inner workings of a set so large. Per Variety, Driver told the SmartLess podcast:
โโStar Warsโ was way more exhausting for me โฆ I made it more exhausting than it should have been. I hadnโt quite figured out the momentum of a set that was that big before. All the things I had worked on were pretty small and moved pretty fast โฆ The director sets the pace of the set. I donโt like to control that. I have to adjust. Spike Lee and [Steven] Soderbergh shoot really fast. For me thatโs not comfortable, but itโs there movie and their film so I adjust.โ
Adam Driver
When asked about the possibility of Kylo Ren returning from the dead, Driver said that the execs behind Star Wars were “doing stuff” but without him. Currently, the next big Star Wars project is reportedly a Rey-centric movie that follows Daisy Ridley the ex-scavenger as she rebuilds the Jedi Order in Luke’s footsteps. While echoes of Kylo Ren may remain in the Star Wars universe, Adam Driver has made his stance clear.
If you’re a fan of Adam Driver outside of Star Wars, be sure to catch him in his upcoming projects, Megalopolis and Heat 2.
