Prime Video’s The Love Hypothesis has loads of hidden Star Wars details beyond Reylo fanfic

There are loads of Star Wars details in Prime Video’s The Love Hypothesis, beyond the fact that Ali Hazelwood’s novel started as Reylo fanfiction.

Claire Scanlon’s film follows Olive Smith and Adam Carlsen, played by Lili Reinhart and Tom Bateman. But if you know the original story, the Star Wars connections are pretty easy to spot.

So, here are the details you probably missed.

It actually started as Reylo fanfiction

Ali Hazelwood’s The Love Hypothesis started as a 2018 Star Wars fanfiction called “Head Over Feet”, about Rey and Kylo Ren. Hazelwood later rewrote the story as the 2021 novel, changing Rey into Olive and Kylo into Adam and removing the obvious Star Wars references.

Even The Love Hypothesis characters are based on Star Wars characters. Olive Smith and Adam Carlsen are obviously based on Rey and Kylo Ren. Olive’s best friend Anh is the Rose counterpart, and Malcom is the Finn counterpart. Also, Dr Aslan is Vice Admiral Holdo in the fanfic.

Adam is named after Adam Driver and dressed like Kylo

Adam Carlsen is named after Adam Driver, who played Kylo Ren. And there’s another fun fact: Adam is played by Tom Bateman, who is married to Daisy Ridley, the actor who played Rey.

Adam dressed like Kylo. He wore a lot of black in the film. His office is also mostly black and very minimal.

Scanlon confirmed that this was part of the Kylo Ren influence. But Adam’s clothes change as he gets closer to Olive. His colours move from black towards navy blue, while the harder fabrics are replaced with softer clothes such as cashmere. Basically, Adam’s wardrobe becomes less cold as he becomes more open with Olive.

There are two Darth Vader and Kylo Ren homages

The hallway scene is also a Kylo reference. When Adam walks down the hallway to confront Tom Benton, the scene is filmed from a low angle. He walks towards the camera in all black, looking seriously intimidating. Scanlon confirmed that this was meant to echo the way Kylo Ren is filmed in Star Wars.

And the music makes the reference even clearer. The film uses Star Wars musical references around Adam. Kylo Ren’s theme plays when Adam enters the coffee shop with Olive. It comes back later when Adam walks down the hallway to confront Tom.

In an interview with Swooon, Scanlon described these as “our two Darth Vader and Kylo Ren homages.”

The Gracie Abrams song is another Star Wars connection

The film opens with “Mess It Up” by Gracie Abrams. Her dad is J.J. Abrams, who directed The Force Awakens and The Rise of Skywalker. Scanlon told Variety that fans actually pointed out the connection online. She recalled someone saying, “They better use a Gracie Abrams song.”

And Scanlon responded, “Why would they want to use a Gracie Abrams song?”

So, this one really is a tiny fan-service moment.

Adam’s ‘evil’ story sounds very Kylo backstory

During the sushi date, Adam tells Olive that he never meant to be evil. He also talks about having a mentor who was a sadist with powerful friends. That obviously sounds a lot like Kylo Ren’s relationship with Supreme Leader Snoke. Scanlon said this part came directly from Hazelwood’s book.

Adam also calls Olive a “rebel.” That could be a reference to Rey and the Resistance, but Scanlon wasn’t sure whether that was intentional either.

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