Did we witness a romance awaken between Finn and Rey in Episode VII? Or is their love for one another purely platonic? Some thought that, buried beneath the duo’s teamwork in The Force Awakens, was the makings of the next great Star Wars romantic relationship, but we aren’t so positive after John Boyega‘s recent comments on what is really going on between the two.
In an interview with Variety, Boyega was questioned about the “developing romance” between his renegade stormtrooper Finn and Daisy Ridley‘s Rey. He was asked, “How is that romance evolving in the next chapter?” and he shot down the entire notion that anything like that had even happened in the film.
“I mean, we didn’t establish a romance in seven; we never played it that way. Daisy and I, we’re friends.”
Granted, this could be Boyega being coy and wisely not giving away something he is really supposed to keep close to the vest. But it might also be an entirely honest answer, and you can just as easily make an argument from what happens in The Force Awakens that Finn and Rey experienced everything as friends, not as two people with romantic feelings for one another.
What he said next makes hope for future Finn/Rey romance a lot murkier, though. The followup question point blank asked him, “So there’s no romance?” and his response was definitely open to interpretation.
“Yes, Finn and Rey – they’re just friends. Finn is a storm trooper, so he doesn’t really know what’s going on. So the romance thing is something that’s going to be interesting in the next installment. It’s not going to go the way you think it’s going to go.”
So there’s no romance, but the “romance thing” is going to be interesting in Episode VIII. And if it’s not going to go the way we think, but he just told us what we think is wrong.
What the hell does that all mean?
The truth might lie somewhere in the middle. If we take him at his word that he and Daisy Ridley did not play their parts with any inclination they were interested in one another romantically, that doesn’t mean it can’t then happen in the next movie. Heck, it doesn’t even mean it didn’t happen in The Force Awakens. It’s not like some couples don’t start off as friends first, friends that love and care and worry about one another a great deal. We already saw the risks Finn would take to rescue her, and what protecting him meant to Rey.
They might have played their roles as two new friends, but that can just as easily be the foundation for a future relationship as if they had played it romantically, so that doesn’t mean prevent their love from growing into something more.
Or maybe they are only ever meant to be friends, and there won’t be anything beyond that going forward.
Now each Star Wars trilogy has had a romantic storyline, and the fact that Boyega said “the romance thing is something that’s going to be interesting in the next installment” seems to be an indication there will be a romantic element somewhere. That raises the question: if not them, then which two characters?
If not Finn and Rey, could it be Poe and Rey? Finn and Poe? A romance involving a new character to the story? Hell, could we see Kylo Ren fall for someone? Maybe Maz Kanata finds the perfect raisin in the sea.
We might not know exactly what to make of Boyega’s comments, but it’s way more fun like this anyway. The anticipation for the next movie is made all the better by having more things to theorize and guess over, and trying to figure out which two characters might be earmarked as the next great Star Wars romance is a pretty good one.
So what do you think of his comments? What’s your best guess about which characters might be a couple? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
And now for another big question concerning Star Wars: Episode VIII…
Images: Lucasfilm/Disney
