Finn and Poe might always be the Star Wars couple that never was, but Rise of Skywalker director J.J. Abrams has hinted that even if Oscar Isaac and John Boyega never hook up onscreen, queer representation could be on the way. That might not be enough to sate the fans who have clamored for years to just let Poe and Finn hook up, but hey—it’s something, right?

During an interview with Variety, Abrams said it was important to him while casting his Star Wars films to make sure the films’ universe “looked more the way the world looks than not. And in the case of the LGBTQ community, it was important to me that people who go to see this movie feel that they’re being represented in the film.” The director naturally played coy when Variety asked if that meant the upcoming film would include a queer character, but did remark, “I will say I’m giving away nothing about what happens in the movie—but I did just say what I just said.”

When Variety spoke with Isaac, he repeated his enthusiasm for the idea of letting Poe and Finn’s relationship cross into more explicitly romantic territory, noting that he had “natural chemistry” with Boyega from day one. “I remember it was an audition and the two of us just, like, did that first scene back to back—butt to butt—just doing the scene together, practicing in this room,” Isaac said. “Immediately all kind of artifice, everything just collapsed. There was an intimacy that was just there.... Personally I kinda had hoped and wished that maybe that would have been taken further in the other films, but I don’t have control over that.”

Some fans have been clamoring for a queer Star Wars character for years, largely to no avail. Donald Glover, who starred as Lando Calrissian in Solo: A Star Wars Story, offered the extratextual note that his character was queer by asking in an interview, “How can you not be pansexual in space?” But within the film itself, there was no indication that his character was anything but heterosexual.

Given Abrams’s tease, the question becomes exactly how robust a role a potential queer character might play in The Rise of Skywalker. Will this be an “exclusively gay moment” situation, or will there actually be an interesting arc at play? Especially given the fact that Poe and Finn were right there all along, it’s hard to blame anyone tempering their expectations.

Still, the world of Star Wars is no stranger to shipping; one of the most popular yet polarizing pairings fans have hoped for in recent years is Daisy Ridley’s Rey and Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren. And let’s not forget that Luke and Leia seemed destined for romance—before we found out they were siblings. Whoops.

The way Abrams sees it, Poe and Finn's relationship “goes far deeper than a romantic relationship,” as he put it to Variety. “It is a deep bond that these two have, not just because of the sort of trial by fire in which they met, but also because of their willingness to be as intimate as they are—as afraid as they are, as unsure as they are, and still be bold, and still be daring and brave.” Still, it’s hard to argue with anyone who wishes they would just kiss already.

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