Adam Driver Reveals How Much Star Wars: Episode IX Butchered His Character
It seems that Kylo Ren's journey was originally the opposite of the Vader rip-off we ended up with.
Summary:
- The Star Wars sequel trilogy suffered greatly from the constant course changes between films
- One of the biggest missed opportunities was Kylo Ren's journey, which ended up disappointing many fans
- Adam Driver revealed that his character was originally supposed to take a different path instead of the forced redemption arc
Regardless of how controversial the Star Wars sequel trilogy turned out to be, there is no denying that it introduced some pretty interesting concepts to the franchise.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of them ultimately proved to be completely pointless, as due to the constant changes that happened between each of the three films, some genuinely interesting ideas that were set up in one movie were thrown out the window in the next, which only added insult to injury for many fans.
Kylo Ren Was One Of The Most Promising Characters In The Sequel Trilogy
Kylo Ren, aka Ben Solo, portrayed by Adam Driver, is definitely one of those cases, because unlike many other things introduced in 2015's Episode VII - The Force Awakens, which felt lifted directly from the original trilogy, he felt rather fresh and promising.
The son of Han Solo and Leia Organa, initially trained in the ways of the Jedi by Luke Skywalker himself, only to be corrupted by the Dark Side, had endless potential for character development, and fans were eager to see the rest of his story.
However, over the course of the trilogy, he followed a rather clichéd (for Star Wars) path of redemption, culminating in a horribly cheesy kiss with Rey (which many fans felt was incredibly forced) just before his death in Episode IX, leaving many viewers disappointed.
During his recent appearance on The Rich Eisen Show, Driver revealed that his character's arc was drastically changed throughout the trilogy, as Kylo Ren was originally supposed to be very different from the Darth Vader rip-off we ended up with.
Original Kylo Ren Was Nothing Like The Final Result
It seems that Kylo was supposed to be the complete opposite of Vader, starting out as a confused young man and becoming more and more committed to the Dark Side, eventually becoming a full-fledged Dark Lord of the Sith.
According to the actor, they kept this idea of how the character's journey would end until Episode IX, and only then was it decided that Kylo would return to the light in the final film.
Fans are furious to hear this as they feel that it would have been a much better story than basically following the same path as the original trilogy, saying that we already got a redemption arc with Vader and seeing a completely different turn of events with his grandson would have been a breath of fresh air.
Others say that even if the creators wanted Kylo to be redeemed so badly, they could have at least made him face the consequences of his evil actions, as just killing him off at the end of the story felt incredibly anticlimactic.
Either way, we all know how things turned out, and this revelation only further proves how much the sequel trilogy suffered from constant changes in the overarching plot, which turned into an incoherent mess.
Sources: The Rich Eisen Show, Reddit