‘Wokeness Killed Han Solo,’ Adam Driver Jokes in SNL Skit

Mr. Driver complained in an interview that he’s constantly blamed by fans for Han Solo’s death.

Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

Star Wars actor Adam Driver jokingly blamed “wokeness” for the death of the beloved character Han Solo in the franchise’s last trilogy during a Saturday Night Live (SNL) skit.

“I'd like people to stop coming up to me on the street saying, ‘You killed Han Solo.’ I didn’t kill Han Solo, Wokeness killed Han Solo,” Mr. Driver said during the Dec. 9 episode of SNL. The joke was a reference to his Star Wars character Kylo Ren killing Han Solo in “The Force Awakens” movie, a plot development that was controversial among the franchise’s fandom. He made the comments during a monologue while playing the piano and reciting a letter of Christmas wishes to Santa Claus.

This was the fourth time that Mr. Driver hosted SNL. He previously hosted the show in 2016, 2018, and 2020.

In a recent interview with CNN, Mr. Driver raised the issue of being harassed due to the scene. “Somebody reminds me about that every day … Not every day, but yeah. It used to be more, but now it’s probably once a month someone will let me know that I killed Han Solo.”

Despite the weight of the scene, he said that shooting the sequence was not tough. “Harrison (who played Solo) was so generous and contemplative, and to me, that was a great moment on set, even though it was his death,” he said.

It is unclear what exactly Mr. Driver was referring to when he said “wokeness” killed Han Solo. The film was made under the Walt Disney banner, a company that has been criticized for pushing a woke progressive agenda through its movies and has seen the box office performances of its films crater in recent years.

The last time a Disney movie made over $1 billion was Star Wars in 2019. That year, seven out of nine Hollywood movies that grossed over $1 billion globally were from Disney. But since then, things have not gone exactly well for the company.

Last year, “Strange World” and “Lightyear” turned out to be duds. This year, only “Elemental” and “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” have performed well theatrically.

Disney’s other offerings this year, like “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” and “The Haunted Mansion,” have bombed.

“The Marvels,” a movie from the MCU franchise, turned out to be a disappointment. “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” and “The Little Mermaid” also failed to meet box office expectations.

Recent Blowbacks to Disney

Speaking at the DealBook Summit in New York late last month, Disney CEO Bob Iger said that he would no longer tolerate the prioritizing of messaging over storytelling in movies.

“Creators lost sight of what their No. 1 objective needed to be,” he said, according to CNBC. “We have to entertain first. It’s not about messages.”

“I like being able to entertain if you can infuse it with positive messages and have a good impact on the world. Fantastic. But that should not be the objective,” he stated. “I’ve worked hard since I’ve been back to reminding the creative community who are our partners and our employees that that’s the objective … And I don’t really want to tolerate the opposite.” Mr. Iger briefly left Disney for 11 months in 2022.

In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the company admitted that “consumers’ perceptions of our position on matters of public interest … often differ widely and present risks to our reputation and brands.” Such matters include Disney’s environmental and social goals, it stated.

“Generally, our revenues and profitability are adversely impacted when our entertainment offerings and products, as well as our methods to make our offerings and products available to consumers, do not achieve sufficient consumer acceptance.”

After hitting a peak of around $197 in March 2021, Disney’s shares have fallen to roughly $92 as of Dec. 8, a decline of about 53 percent.

Writing in a recent op-ed at The Hill, legal scholar Jonathan Turley pointed out that Disney, which was once an “unassailable and uniting brand,” is now being negatively associated with activism by a significant number of customers.

“The question is the balance and degree of the political and social agenda. Disney’s products are now viewed by many conservatives as empty virtue signaling and endless attempts to indoctrinate children,” he wrote.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk recently took a shot at Disney CEO Iger after the company pulled out advertisements from his social media platform X.

“He should be fired immediately. Walt Disney is turning in his grave over what Bob has done to his company,” Mr. Musk wrote in a Dec. 7 X post.

An October episode of South Park, titled “Joining the Panderverse,” mocked Disney executives for pushing diversity in franchises like Star Wars.

The episode specifically targeted Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy who had overseen the recent Star Wars trilogy as well as all of the franchise’s series on Disney+.