‘Star Wars Episode 8’ Spoilers: J.J. Abrams May Have Just Confirmed Rumors Of A Romance Between Finn And Poe

The Star Wars Episode 8 rumors have hinted toward an unlikely romance between Finn and Poe Dameron, and now director J.J. Abrams may have just revealed a big spoiler for the next movie — that it could really be happening.

It wasn’t long after the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens that fans started to notice a possible deeper connection between Oscar Isaac’s Poe Dameron and John Boyega’s Finn, as two seemed to have a deep chemistry on screen. The idea picked up more steam when Isaac, Bodega, and Daisy Ridley appeared on Ellen DeGeneres’ talk show.

Ellen asked the cast members if there was any romance involved in the movie. Boyega joked that he was too busy “sweating, panting, and running” for a love story, but Isaac hinted that there could be something going on.

“I think it’s a very subtle romance that’s happening,” he said. “You have to just look very closely — you have to watch it a few times to see the little hints but, there was. At least, I was playing romance.”

Because Poe Dameron shared most of his scenes with Finn, many speculated that he was hinting toward a budding romance that could show up in Star Wars Episode 8.

Director J.J. Abrams may have just given some verification to that theory. In an interview at the U.S.-Ireland Alliance Oscar Wilde Awards, he said that it was his intention to include more diverse characters in the Star Wars universe. To this point, the movie had been focused mostly on white, male leads, but Abrams instead chose a woman and a black man as protagonists of his movie.

“When I talk about inclusivity, it’s not excluding gay characters, it’s about inclusivity, so of course,” Abrams said (via People magazine). “To me the fun of Star Wars is exploring the possibilities, so it seems insanely narrow-minded to say that there wouldn’t be a homosexual character in that world.”

There have already been some gay characters introduced into the wider Star Wars universe, Entertainment Weekly noted. Some tie-in books have included openly gay including the Imperial defector Sinjir Rath Velus in Star Wars: Aftermath and Moff Delian Mors in Lords of the Sith.

Velus is getting plenty of attention as the first major hero from an LGBT background. Author Chuck Wendig told Entertainment Weekly that it was not a big deal to include a character who doesn’t have sexual chemistry with his female co-lead.

“There was no issue in terms of the Lucasfilm people. They have been very gracious and accommodating for that sort of thing, as they should be. The only question in terms of story stuff was, some of the earlier readers of the book were like, well, it’s kind of a shame, because he and that other character actually have some good chemistry. So in some ways it’s like, well, it’s a shame that they’re not getting together.”

Wendig added that it’s becoming more common to see gay characters introduced, which could be laying the path for a romance between Poe and Finn in Star Wars Episode 8.

You’re starting to see it more, obviously, in the larger narrative properties. Comics are just starting to figure out that that [LGBT men and women] exist in the world, and you can include and incorporate them in stories and speak to those people, and speak to audiences who may not have been spoken to before.

There’s a large subset of Star Wars fans who are already embracing the idea of a romance between Finn and Poe, with fan fiction and fan-made drawings imagining the two together.

#stormpilot #finnpoe #starwars that is all pic.twitter.com/FZApz633nD

— Matthew Jessee (@MatthewJessee) December 30, 2015

#FinnPoe, the (space)ship that flies itself #StarWars #TheForceAwakens pic.twitter.com/3f15ryyVV7

— Mariló Delgado @ One Piece Character Arc ? (@emedeme91) December 30, 2015

Fans who want to find out if the Star Wars Episode 8 spoilers are true will have to wait a little bit longer than first expected. The release of the movie was pushed back from May of 2017 to December of that year. But that could just mean more time for the Finn and Poe romance theories to percolate.

[Image via Lucasfilm]