The Unplanned Redemption of Kylo Ren: A Departure from the Original Plan

The Original Plan for Kylo Ren

Kylo Ren and Ben Solo actor Adam Driver has confirmed that one of the most critical moments of Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker was not a part of the original sequel Star Wars trilogy plan. As the face behind Kylo's mask throughout the sequel trilogy, Driver has long since been portraying the character who fit writer and director J.J. Abrams' original plan for the last addition to the Skywalker saga. The third act of The Rise of Skywalker sees Kylo Ren earning redemption at the hands of both his mother and his father, at last embracing Ben Solo as he rushes to Rey's aid on Exegol - something many viewers felt was somewhat jarring compared to his self-promotion as the First Order's Supreme Leader at the end of The Last Jedi. As it turns out, this redemption was never originally supposed to happen.

Kylo Ren speaks to Darth Vader's spirit in front of his burned mask in The Force Awakens

In an interview with The Rich Eisen Show (via Adam Driver Archive), Driver confirms the original plan for Kylo Ren was for him to fall further to the dark side as the movies went on, with him ending the trilogy as the strongest Sith version of himself that he could be. Instead, things were taken in different directions, with The Rise of Skywalker making the biggest detour to give Kylo Ren a redemption arc. Driver says "[Ben Solo] was never part of it," confirming Kylo's redemption was in fact a change made later on by Abrams himself.

Twitter article posted by Adam Driver Archive

Kylo Ren's Original Arc

Beginning with his uncertainty at the start of The Force Awakens, Driver describes Kylo Ren's original arc as something of an antithesis to Darth Vader's. He portrays a villain whose strength in the dark side gets more and more powerful and certain as the movies progress, as opposed to a character whose redemption becomes more and more inevitable. Instead, the creators chose to veer from this path, with Abrams focusing on Ben's Force dyad with Rey and ultimately giving Ren his redemption. This reveals the true extent of the story changes made to the sequel Star Wars trilogy during the course of their production, and it points out one glaring reason why it's so detrimental.

Early on, Driver committed to the vision the creators had for his character and his story, and that's something he maintained the best he could throughout the first two movies. For him to have to change direction in the third movie, then, was to make those past efforts be somewhat in vain, causing Kylo's redemption to seem more jarring than it should be - which isn't Driver's fault. The Rise of Skywalker, then, would have no doubt benefited from following its original direction, no matter how much its predecessor may have veered from the original course of the story.