The #1 Movie on Prime Video Has a Wild Star Wars Connection, And It’s Impossible to Unsee It

Recently, Prime Video released a romantic comedy that, at first, seems like any other story. In this case, the ingredients are a PhD student, an arrogant professor, a fake relationship, and two people who obviously aren’t going to keep things strictly professional. However, the origin of this movie is the part that makes it so much more interesting and completely changes the way you look at it. Ever imagined a rom-com connected to Star Wars? If you’re a fan of the franchise, you probably haven’t heard about this, mostly because there’s a pretty small overlap between people who are into George Lucas’ universe and this particular genre, but you might find the whole situation involving these two IPs very fascinating.

But hold on, before you assume this is simply a fanfic that somehow became a movie after changing the characters’ names, there’s actually a lot more to it than that. It’s about the way the two protagonists were built, visual and musical references that some Star Wars fans might recognize, and one incredibly strange casting detail that ends up reinforcing the whole connection. The further you look into how this story went from one universe to another, the more unexpected the whole thing gets. Curious? Let’s break it down.

What’s the Connection Between The Love Hypothesis and Star Wars?

Recently released, The Love Hypothesis is an adaptation of Ali Hazelwood’s book of the same name, following Olive Smith (Lili Reinhart), a PhD student in Biology who finds herself stuck in a bit of an awkward situation with her best friend. To convince her that she’s moving on and that her love life is completely under control, Olive impulsively starts a fake relationship with Adam Carlsen (Tom Bateman), a brilliant, intimidating professor known around campus as Dr. Evil because he’s not exactly the nicest person around. The deal is: they pretend to be together, everyone believes them, and eventually they both move on with their lives. But this is a rom-com, so we all know what happens: feelings get involved.

At first, the story doesn’t seem to have anything to do with Star Wars. But it actually started out as a fanfic based on the franchise, written by Hazelwood back in 2018 under the title Head Over Feet and published on Archive of Our Own (AO3), where the central couple was none other than Rey and Kylo Ren. The idea was to take them out of the sci-fi universe and put them in a more contemporary setting, with Rey as a graduate student and Kylo as a university professor. And the story became extremely popular, racking up more than 111,000 views, 5,900 likes, 5,600 comments, and over 1000 bookmarks by 2019. That’s when literary agent Thao Le came across Hazelwood’s work, eventually leading to a book deal. After countless revisions, all of the Star Wars references were removed, and the new version hit bookstores in 2021, becoming a bestseller.

At first, nothing was said about the book having once been that hugely popular fanfic from years earlier. But people who were already fans of the franchise (especially Rey and Kylo Ren) started recognizing the structure, and the buzz gradually spread. For anyone wondering, the two Star Wars characters don’t actually have a romantic relationship in the story, but after a kiss, their bond, and a few suggestive scenes between them, combined with the chemistry between the actors, part of the fandom started shipping them.

Then, an adaptation of The Love Hypothesis was announced in 2022, and now that it’s available on Prime Video, it has reached the No. 1 spot on the streaming service’s worldwide ranking. However, the overall structure of the story still bears plenty of similarities to the original sci-fi characters, and unlike the book, the film seems to have added a few Easter eggs to reference its origins. For starters, Adam mirrors several of Kylo’s characteristics, from spending much of the plot dressed in dark clothes to being the most intimidating and inaccessible man on campus. Olive, on the other hand, is more spontaneous and is trying to find her own path, which echoes Rey’s arc. There are also shots and scenes that recall the characters’ dynamic in the franchise, such as when Adam shows up shirtless in front of Olive, recalling one of the most talked-about scenes between Kylo and Rey in Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

And the soundtrack is a whole other story. According to composer Laura Karpman, some moments in The Love Hypothesis were deliberately scored with musical elements inspired by “Kylo Ren’s Theme” (and John Williams’ musical language), including when Adam walks into a coffee shop and when he walks down the hallway to confront another character in defense of Olive. Also, some fans have identified a brief variation of “Rey’s Theme” during a scene involving the student. And it doesn’t stop there, because Gracie Abrams “Mess It Up” plays during the film’s opening sequence, something director Claire Scanlon said was a choice that came from fans themselves, since the singer is J.J. Abrams’ daughter, who directed The Force Awakens and The Rise of Skywalker — the very movies that introduced Rey and Kylo to audiences.

In other words, the adaptation is packed with subtle details that pay tribute to Star Wars and, especially, both characters who inspired its protagonists. But there’s one detail that, as mentioned earlier, might be the strangest of them all because of how specific the coincidence is: Bateman’s casting.

Tom Bateman’s Casting Is the Craziest Part of the Whole Connection

Let’s be blunt: the actor who plays Adam is married to Daisy Ridley, the actress who played Rey in Star Wars. It’s an oddly specific coincidence, even if it doesn’t seem like one at first. Scanlon has said that this had nothing to do with the decision to cast Bateman, and Reinhart later revealed that, after reading with several actors, Bateman was the one she had the best chemistry with. The actor only found out about the fanfic afterward and said Ridley had vaguely heard something about it but didn’t know the full story.

And that’s not all, because, interestingly enough, there’s also Tom Benton (Arty Froushan), who serves as the story’s villain. He’s an associate professor at Harvard and a friend of Adam’s who becomes interested in Olive’s research and initially appears to be someone who could help her academically by offering an opportunity to fund her work. Eventually, though, he threatens to hurt her career. And here’s where things get interesting: the name. Did you catch it? Hazelwood has never addressed this herself, but fans have been pointing out for years that the choice of name may be a nod to Bateman.

In the end, The Love Hypothesis and Star Wars, despite not seeming connected at all, share a surprisingly specific link. You don’t need to know about it to understand the adaptation, but once you do, it’s hard not to start noticing everything. Who would’ve thought that one of the biggest sci-fi franchises in the world could somehow lead to a university romance?

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