Kylo Ren wasn’t intended to refind himself as Ben Solo. Instead, Ben was going to lose himself as the sith lord more and more throughout the Star Wars sequel trilogy, according to actor Adam Driver.
Variety reports Driver divulged the original plan for Kylo Ren on The Rich Eisen Podcast. “I had an overall arc in mind that [Star Wars: The Force Awakens and The Rise of Skywalker director J.J. Abrams] wanted to do,” the actor said. “His idea was that [Kylo’s] journey was the opposite journey of Vader, where Vader starts the most confident and the most committed to the dark side. And then by the last movie, he’s the most vulnerable and weak. He wanted to start with the opposite.
“This character was the most confused and vulnerable, and by the end of the three movies, he 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 while shooting.”