Ever since they first locked eyes on each other across a crowded First Order base, then teamed up and stole a rad black TIE fighter together, fans everywhere have only cared about one Star Wars ship: StormPilot! Yes, everyone’s favorite (probably) Force sensitive Stormtrooper gone good and the Resistance’s most talented—and handsome—X-Wing pilot have had tongues wagging since those iconic credits rolled on The Force Awakens, not only because this duo is lovely together but because having a gay couple in the main Star Wars canon would be a really big deal.
Well, during a recent interview on the Pacific Rim press tour, John Boyega let us know just what he thinks about the potential for Finn and Poe in Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
During his chat with Metro US, Boyega talked at length about the importance of inclusivity on and off the screen. After being asked about the responsibility that Star Wars has to actively tackle the lack of diversity on screen, Boyega made his views clear. “There definitely is that responsibility, but more the responsibility to hire those from those experiences to share their creative light, that’s the pivotal thing. Because if you just hire the same sort of people you’re just getting the same sort of film. It’s not wrong, but then there’s a lack of variety,” he explained, bringing up a point that’s one of the most important lessons for Hollywood to learn: hiring inclusively will lead to more inclusive storyte
As for everyone’s favorite space gays, well in John’s mind Poe would have to be the one to make the first move. “I think that Oscar is always looking at me with love in his eyes, and I guess that the fans saw it. And then they realized that either he needs to chill or come out,” Boyega joked. John has regularly had fun with fan theories, joking about The Last Jedi being plural and encouraging much of the StormPilot fandom. Though in this case, we’re hoping that his humor may have a little truth to it. Especially since Kathleen Kennedy has also stated that the fans influence the story more than they may realize.
Last year when asked about the reality of having LGBTQ characters in the Star Wars universe, The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams stated that he “would love it,” and that “to me, the fun of Star Wars is the glory of possibility. So it seems insanely narrow-minded and counterintuitive to say that there wouldn’t be a homosexual character in that world.” So the idea of canon out gay characters may not be a galaxy away. After all, we already had Chirrut and Baze in Rogue One, everyone’s favorite subtextual space husbands whose close relationship drove fans to ask whether they’d been more than just best friends.
Though the pair were not originally written as romantic partners, Gareth Edwards had a conversation with Donnie Yen about the possibility and began to see things differently, stating in an interview that “I felt like, ‘You know what? If these were real people and I was filming them, I wouldn’t know. It’s not something we would see; they would keep it to themselves.’ For all I know, a little bit of that might be going on under the surface.” He also gave his blessing to the fans that saw something important between Rouge One’s space dads. “Genuinely, if the audience wants to take that away from it, I’m very happy. I’d be very proud to have brought something like that to Star Wars,” Edwards said.
To truly include queer characters in Star Wars would mean writing them in as whole characters whose queerness is a part of them, not just allowing fans to enjoy the subtext that they bring to these beloved characters. So let’s hope that we get the TRUE space gays we deserve when The Last Jedi hits the screen later this year.
Are you a StormPilot fan? Can’t wait to see Finn and Poe reunited on screen? Or just waiting for that long awaited storm smooch? Let us know in the comments!
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Images: Disney, Lucasfilm
