Lucasfilm abandoned big plans for the Knights of Ren in two major projects. Star Wars' sequel trilogy uncovered the Knights of Ren, a cult-like enclave of masked dark-side warriors, led by Adam Driver's Kylo Ren, who wielded a variety of weapons and crudely utilized the Force. The ancient cult acted as Kylo Ren's enforcers, acting in the background throughout the trilogy and living by the ways of Ren, a dark-side-oriented religious ideology.
The Knights of Ren finally got their dues in The Rise of Skywalker, assisting Kylo in enforcing his will within the First Order and helping him hunt Rey on Pasaana. Despite their previous loyalty to Kylo, it became apparent after his redemption back into Ben Solo that their true dedication was to Darth Sidious, leading them to be slain by their former leader, putting an end to the group.
The Sith-adjacent cult may have enjoyed more screen time in The Rise of Skywalker, but most agree they were greatly underutilized in the sequel trilogy. While expanded media has further explored the Knights of Ren since then, Lucasfilm has abandoned bigger plans to feature them in TV and movies...
Star Wars' 2 Knights of Ren Movies & Shows You Will Never See
The Hunt for Ben Solo
Adam Driver was once working with director Steven Soderbergh, and writers Rebecca Blunt and Scott Z. Burns on The Hunt for Ben Solo. The sequel trilogy follow-up joined a growing list of cancelled Star Wars movies when Disney execs were left confused about how Ben Solo was alive after The Rise of Skywalker.
Since The Hunt of Ben Solo team went public with the abandoned movie, a petition to revive the Kylo Ren-centric flick has gone viral. Fans have gone to great lengths with the campaign, from renting billboards on Broadway to flying a plane with a banner across Disney Studios in Burbank, California.
Plot details surrounding the project remain scarce amid hopes for a revival, but it presumably would have centered around Driver's redeemed Ben Solo, and therefore could have shed more light on his time with the Knights of Ren.
Both The Rise of Kylo Ren and Legacy of Vader comics from writer Charles Soule have unlocked fresh lore about the group and their sequel trilogy leader in recent years, some of which could have come to screens in The Hunt for Ben Solo.
In Legacy of Vader #8, the Knights of Ren got a replacement leader, Tava Ren, who was going on her own hunt for Ben Solo, setting out to kill him during the events of The Force Awakens, shedding further light on the group.
The Acolyte Season 2
Previously, it was unclear how far back the Knights of Ren reach in the Star Wars timeline, but The Acolyte was going to offer clarity. The series introduced The Good Place actor Manny Jacinto as Qimir, aka The Stranger, a masked darkside force user who was teased to have connections to Kylo Ren.
The High Republic-set Disney+ series (which takes place around 170 years before The Force Awakens) was cancelled last year due to its "cost structure," leaving Season 2 in the dust and the mystery of Qimir doomed to go unexplored.
Showrunner Leslye Headland explained in The Acolyte artbook (via Jedi News) that The Stranger would have been a Knight of Ren, allowing the Sith's Rule of Two to survive, even with both Qimir and Palpatine training under Plagueis:
“It was in the design of the character, as well as knowing that we were going to introduce Following Darth Plagueis, who has to end up with Palpatine as his apprentice. the Rule of Two – a precept that limited the Sith to just two at any given time, a master and an apprentice – one way to keep it going it is if the Stranger is the first Knight of Ren, part of a Sith-adjacent cult that we know eventually survives.”
While Qimir was the perfect vehicle to explore the Knights of Ren's origins, that will seemingly never happen, at least not on Disney+. The Acolyte's story has continued in extended media, meaning those revelations surrounding Qimir's ties to the Knights of Ren could be the focus of a book or comic in the future.
