Star Wars: The Force Awakens actor John Boyega has expressed his appreciation for fans of his character Finn, including those who have been hooking him up with X-wing fighter pilot Poe Dameron.

Speaking at this month’s Star Wars Celebration event, Boyega told MTV News that he is well aware of Finn/Poe fan fiction and is happy with all the love fans have for his Stormtrooper-turned-Resistance fighter.

“I know about Finn/Poe – there’s many erotic images that I have received and I appreciate all support for Finn and his butt cheeks,” he said.

Asked if Finn and Poe’s relationship will continue to develop in this year’s sequel Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Boyega replied: “Absolutely, 100%, fair to say, absolutely 100% – that’s my boy.

“Poe’s my boy! That’s my dude. The love is potent. We’re doing very well.”

After the release of The Force Awakens back in 2015, fans speculated that Star Wars writers were setting up a Finn/Poe romance.

Boyega seems to have gone back and forth on the possibility of a Finn/Poe relationship actually becoming part of the Star Wars canon.

He told one journalist that any such relationship only exists in the mind of Oscar Isaac, who plays Poe, but later noted that the drastic plot twists in previous Star Wars films mean that anything is possible – including a romance between Finn and Poe.

“As far as I’m concerned, when [director] JJ [Abrams] sat us down to go through the script, it was a bromance,” Boyega said.

“But now I’m learning what Mark Hamill said before when he didn’t know that Darth Vader was Luke’s father – you never know what they’re going to pull.”

“I’m looking at [The Last Jedi] director Rian [Johnson] closely so he can get me involved early, so I can prepare myself. So who knows?”

For his part, Johnson certainly doesn’t seem to have a problem with the idea of the romance, tweeting a piece of fan art depicting a Finn/Poe kiss back in January 2016.

Beyond Finn and Poe, Star Wars fans have also suggested that Rogue One: A Star Wars Story characters Chirrut Îmwe (Donnie Yen) and Baze Malbus (Jiang Wen) are in a same-sex relationship, which the film’s director Gareth Edwards refused to rule out.

“I don’t mind people reading into that,” Edwards said of any such subtext.

“I think that’s all good. Who knows? You’d have to speak to them.”

Ben Mendelsohn, who plays Orson Krennic in the film, added: “Any [gay] subtext, I think, is certainly … people like to enjoy these films on many different levels.

“If people are enjoying it on that level – that’s it. That’s what you pay your ten bucks for.”

The jedi Juhani, who appeared in 2003 video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, was the first female character written for the Star Wars universe as a lesbian.

Despite some opposition in the form of anti-gay letters, video games company Electronic Arts introduced the possibility of same-sex relationships in The Star Wars: The Old Republic, its online role-playing game produced by its BioWare subsidiary.