Adam Driver says Kylo Ren’s “Star Wars ”arc was changed, he was originally more 'committed' to the dark side

The villain's fate at the end of the trilogy was initially "never a part of it."

Much like everyone else with a Reddit account, Adam Driver is still thinking about the end of his Star Wars trilogy.

The actor, who made his debut in the franchise as antagonist Kylo Ren, has revealed that his character’s arc was drastically different from the one he signed on for initially. Turns out, the original plan had Kylo on track to become darker and more villainous rather than soften over time.

“I had an overall arc in mind that [J.J. Abrams] wanted to do, which, you know, then changed,” Driver recalled during an appearance on The Rich Eisen Show. “His idea was that [Kylo’s] journey was almost the opposite of Vader. Where Vader starts the most confident and the most committed to the dark side and then by the last movie he’s the most vulnerable and weak — he wanted to start with the opposite.”

Driver explained that originally Kylo was supposed to be “the most confused and vulnerable, and by the end of the three movies, he would be the most committed to the dark side.”

He added, "I tried to keep that arc in mind, regardless if that wound up not being the journey anyway. Because it changed while shooting. But I was still focused on that.”

As for when the trilogy began diverging from its original vision, Driver pointed to The Last Jedi, noting how writer-director Rian Johnson took Kylo’s story in “a different direction” but argued that it “still tracked with the character.” He said the real changes, however, came from the conclusive Rise of Skywalker, which Abrams returned to helm.

“The last one, it changed into being about them and the dyad and things like that — and kind of evolving into Ben Solo,” Driver recalled. “That was never a part of it. He was Ben Solo from the beginning, but it was never a version where we’d actually see Ben Solo when I first signed up.”

The trilogy — and Kylo’s redemption arc, specifically — have long been a topic of debate among the franchise's dedicated fanbase. Rather than taking Kylo to progressively darker places, the final Skywalker Saga film shows him teaming up with Daisy Ridley’s Rey and eventually sacrificing himself to save her.

For his part, Driver consistently dismissed the idea of Kylo Ren’s journey following in the footsteps of fellow dark side leader Anakin Skywalker (a.k.a. Darth Vader), even ahead of his finale’s premiere.

“What does he have to be redeemed for?” Driver asked while speaking to EW in 2019. “[Kylo Ren] has a different identity, a different definition of what redemption is. He’s already been redeemed in his story. I don’t think there is a thought of redemption. He doesn’t have an outside lens of the events, you know — you know what I mean? That’s more of an outsider’s view of his world.”

Watch Adam Driver's interview on The Rich Eisen Show above and listen to the latest episode of EW's Dagobah Dispatch podcast, featuring Hayden Christensen (a.k.a. Anakin Skywalker), below.

Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more.

Related content:

• Adam Driver reflects on the dramatic Star Wars scene he'll never live down

• Adam Driver jokes that he didn't kill Han Solo in SNL monologue: 'Wokeness killed Han Solo'

• The 15 best Adam Driver movie roles
  

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.