‘The Love Hypothesis’ Secretly Started as ‘Star Wars’ Fan Fiction and the ReyLo Connection Is Wilder Than You Think
Before ‘The Love Hypothesis‘ became a bestselling romance novel and now an Amazon Prime Video film, it began its life as something fans of a certain galaxy far, far away might recognize instantly.
The story that would eventually become Olive Smith and Adam Carlsen’s slow burn romance started as a piece of ‘Star Wars’ fan fiction, and the details behind its origin are almost stranger than the plot itself.
What ‘The Love Hypothesis’ Was Originally Based On
The Love Hypothesis was originally published online in 2018 under the title Head Over Feet, a Star Wars fan fiction work centered on the Reylo ship between Rey and Kylo Ren. Written under the pen name Ever_So_Reylo, the fic was a Reylo College AU, and it became one of the more popular entries on Archive of Our Own, racking up thousands of comments, kudos, and bookmarks before Ali Hazelwood eventually took it down.
Hazelwood first started working on the story in 2018 when she published the Reylo fanfic, reimagining Rey and Kylo Ren in a college setting. The premise mirrored what fans now know from the published novel almost beat for beat, with a fake relationship spiraling into real feelings between two people who were never supposed to fall for each other.
When Hazelwood turned the fic into a traditionally published novel, the main characters were renamed Olive and Adam, with Adam named as a nod to Adam Driver, and all explicit ‘Star Wars’ references were removed. She severed the ‘Star Wars’ ties entirely to avoid any copyright complications while turning the fic into her debut novel.
From ReylLo Fan Fiction to a ‘New York Times’ Bestseller
The novel follows graduate student Olive at Stanford University as she pretends to date biology professor Adam Carlsen to convince her friend that her love life is on track, only for the fake relationship to become a lot more complicated than either of them planned. Published by Berkley Books on September 14, 2021, the book has sold over 750,000 copies worldwide since its release.
Even the cover art carries traces of its fan fiction roots. The characters on the novel’s cover illustration were designed after Driver and Daisy Ridley, the very actors whose onscreen chemistry inspired the original fic. It is a detail that longtime Reylo shippers have delighted in pointing out ever since the book took off.
The novel was also shaped by Hazelwood’s own background as a PhD student in cognitive neuroscience, and according to Vulture her literary agent reached out after she expressed interest in reworking her fan fiction for traditional publishing. Since then, Hazelwood has transitioned to writing full time, publishing nine books and four novellas over the past four years.
‘The Love Hypothesis’ Movie Brings the ReyLo Twist Full Circle
The adaptation news somehow made the fan fiction origins even more surreal. Amazon MGM Studios cast Tom Bateman as Dr. Adam Carlsen, and Bateman happens to be married to Daisy Ridley, the actress who played Rey in the sequel trilogy that originally inspired the story. Lili Reinhart of ‘Riverdale’ fame was set to star as Olive opposite him.
Hazelwood has since addressed the surreal coincidence of her husband starring in a project rooted in Reylo fanfic, saying she was aware of the fic’s connection to him but had forgotten the details by the time he actually booked the role. Fans online had a field day connecting the dots once the casting news broke.
The supporting cast reportedly includes Rachel Marsh as Olive’s best friend Anh, Nicholas Duvernay as Olive’s ex Jeremy, Jaboukie Young-White as Olive’s friend Malcolm, and Arty Froushan as Adam’s colleague Tom. The film streams globally on Prime Video beginning September 23.
Hazelwood expressed genuine disbelief over seeing her story reach the screen, saying she still could not quite believe it was happening, and praised the film’s producers and star for the talent they were bringing to the project. For a story that began as a piece of fan fiction about a doomed ‘Star Wars’ romance, watching it become a full theatrical rollout with the real life husband of Rey’s actress in the lead role is the kind of full circle moment few writers ever get.
Why the ReyLo Roots Matter to Fans
The success of ‘The Love Hypothesis’ has also been credited with helping propel a broader Reylo influenced trend across the romance publishing industry. Readers who came to the book without knowing its origins have often gone back and traced the parallels once they learn the truth, from the academic setting to the emotionally guarded male lead.
For fans of the original ‘Head Over Feet’ fic, the film adaptation carries an extra layer of meaning that casual readers might miss entirely. It is not just a romance novel getting the streaming treatment, it is a piece of fandom history coming full circle in a way almost nobody could have predicted back in 2018.
Do you think knowing the Reylo origins of ‘The Love Hypothesis’ changes how you will watch the movie when it hits Prime Video, or does the fan fiction backstory make Tom Bateman and Daisy Ridley’s real life connection even harder to shake off?
