Star Wars: Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren theory that never made it into The Rise of Skywalker

It would have made his character's journey more tragic

Adam Driver has a theory about Kylo Ren’s upbringing that was not explored in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

The JJ Abrams film received mixed reviews following its release in December 2019.

Many criticised it for failing to provide enough context to its many plot points. In fact, a lot of burning questions were answered in a tie-in novel that was published months after the film came out.

One such storyline that was left out of the finished film related to the upbringing of Driver’s character, Kylo Ren.

It is explained that Kylo was driven to the dark side after catching his Jedi trainer, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), trying to kill him in his sleep.

However, many fans wished more time had been spent exploring the history of Kylo, and the actions his parents – Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) – might have had on his decision.side.

As revealed by Magicians writer Lev Grossman, Driver had some ideas about this. Grossman, who wrote a behind-the-scenes feature on The Rise of Skywalker during its production, shared the news while speaking to Inverse.

“I think probably the thing that was missing for me, I wanted to see more about Kylo’s childhood,” he said. ”I thought they would go back to show us more about why he turned to the dark side.”

Grossman says that when he spoke with Driver about the character, “he had a lot of interesting thoughts about Ben Solo’s childhood” and had shared his views on why he turned evil.

Adam Driver as Kylo Ren in the ‘Star Wars’ franchise (Lucasfilm)

“This is actually something Adam Driver said,” Grossman continued. “He said that both Han Solo and Leia were way too self-absorbed and into this idea of themselves as heroes to really be attentive parents in the way a young and tender Kylo Ren really needed.”

Grossman added: “There wasn’t really that much of it in the movie so I just think we have to assume his childhood sucked.”

It’s interesting to know that Driver was playing the role with these thoughts in his mind, even if the scenes weren’t depicted in the finished films.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is available to watch on Disney+ and NOW TV.