Star Wars: Adam Driver Thought Han and Leia Were Too “Self-Absorbed” to Be Ben Solo’s Parents

With Han Solo and Leia Organa being some of the biggest heroes in the world of science fiction, it would seem difficult to believe that their child could descend down a dark path, but Adam Driver personally thinks that their own egos related to their heroism is exactly what caused Ben Solo to become Kylo Ren. Much like Mark Hamill conjured his own theories of what Luke had suffered to cause him to abandon the ways of the Jedi before the events of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Driver’s thoughts don’t seem to be canonical as much as they were part of his preparation for his performances, but future stories could shed more light into his backstory.

“This is actually something Adam Driver said,” Lev Grossman, who wrote about Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker for Vanity Fair, shared with Inverse. “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. There wasn’t really that much of it in the movie so I just think we have to assume his childhood sucked.”

Despite audiences learning in Star Wars: The Force Awakens that Kylo Ren was formerly “Ben Solo” and the son of Han and Leia, we were never given much insight into his path towards darkness. In The Last Jedi, audiences witnessed a moment in which Ben believed he was being attacked by Luke while Luke saw it as a moment of his own weakness as a master.

In The Rise of Skywalker, fans learned that Palpatine had been pulling the strings for a number of Ben’s encounters throughout his life, though this likely wasn’t a plan for the character since he was born. The comic book series Star Wars: The Rise of Kylo Ren shed more light on the character’s journey.

Following his escape from Luke’s Jedi temple, Kylo encountered the Knights of Ren, Palpatine’s most trusted soldiers, and aimed to be enlisted into the group. He was forced to prove himself worthy of joining the group, with his execution of the leader Ren confirming that he had what it took to lead the group, thus confirming his trajectory towards the Dark Side.

The entire Skywalker Saga is now streaming on Disney+.

What do you think of Driver’s thoughts on the matter? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!