Star Wars Reveals BB-8’s New Girlfriend

Since BB-8’s debut in The Force Awakens, fans have been enamored with the droid in ways we hadn’t felt since first meeting C-3PO and R2-D2. In the latest issue of Marvel’s Star Wars: Poe Dameron, it appears as though fans of the saga aren’t the only ones who have taken kindly to the adorable droid.

In the comic series, which takes place before the events of The Force Awakens, Poe appears quite thankful that his ship has been fixed, only to discover that it was a droid referred to as “IVEE” that made the upgrade to ensure BB-8‘s safety.

This sequence of events raises all sorts of questions for the reader, as the astromech droid in question appears to be an R-series, which makes us question why Poe claimed it referred to itself as “IVEE.” As if that isn’t confusing enough, there’s the concept of gender delineations in the world of Star Wars and all the complications that can arise from assigning one droid another droid’s “girlfriend.”

One of the bigger questions amongst fans before The Force Awakens premiered was that of BB-8’s gender, with even members of the cast and crew perplexed by the notion and unsure about the answer. Director J.J. Abrams has claimed BB-8 is referred to as “he,” whereas Harrison Ford had said BB-8 was both genders, while other cast members didn’t think the droid had a gender at all.

Anthony Daniels and Kenny Baker played the parts of C-3PO and R2-D2 respectively, which could be a reason many people assume those droids are males. Considering BB-8 was operated by remote control with no human inside it, that determining factor had been moot.

When it came to developing BB-8’s beeps and chirps, however, actors Ben Schwartz and Bill Hader delivered lines of dialogue as the character, with sound designers then mimicking their tone and inflections to create BB-8’s sounds, a fact that could lend credence to the droid being male.

Regardless of gender, given BB-8’s lack of interactions with C-3PO and R2-D2 in The Force Awakens, we’re glad to see the droid hasn’t always been lonely.

We’ll see BB-8 again when The Last Jedi hits theaters on December 15.