Star Wars 8: Adam Driver and JJ Abrams give detail on why Ben Solo became Kylo Ren

It seems Han and Leia were too busy smuggling/coordinating wars to be good parents

Star Wars: The Force Awakens alum. Adam Driver and JJ Abrams have thrown some light on why Kylo Ren turned to the Dark Side, saying it’s not so much a case of him simply being a ‘bad seed’ as bad parenting on Han and Leia’s behalf.

Driver explains in a featurette on The Force Awakens' Blu-ray: "If you really imagine the stakes of him, in his youth, having all these special powers and having your parents kind of be absent during that process on their own agendas, [being] equally as selfish, he's lost in the world that he was raised in, and feels that he was kind of abandoned by the people that he's closest with.

"He's angry because of that, I think, and he has a huge grudge on his shoulder."

Director JJ Abrams then builds on this, musing: "It's more than just having a 'bad seed' as a kid. Snoke had targeted this kid and knew that this kid was going to be incredibly powerful in The Force and wanted him as an ally.

"So this mother and father had a target as a son, someone who's watching their boy, and these parents aren't there enough to guide him."

Given that we know Star Wars 8 will pick up where TFA left off, with Luke and Rey meeting on that remote island, this back story will likely be explored in the film.

We know that Luke went into self-imposed exile due to a padawan (presumably Ben) going rogue, and it’s likely through flashback that we learn more about the conflict within Ben/Kylo that led to his turn to the Dark Side.

It will be a tricky bit of background info for screenwriter/director Rian Johnson to get right, as you wouldn't expect Han and Leia to be so foolish as to leave their obviously very powerful son unsupervised.

In other Star Wars news, a teaser for Rogue One dropped today, with a full trailer coming imminently.