Star Wars Reylo fanfiction turned hit rom-com gets Prime Video premiere

The Love Hypothesis is only a few months away

Let's be honest with one another: the pipeline from fan fiction to original novel is becoming more overt — and talked about — as time goes on. It's no longer all that shocking in literary communities to read something and find out that it was originally fan fiction. Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid? It started (before later being revised) as a Stucky (Steve and Bucky from the Marvel Cinematic Universe) fanfic, and everyone knows that 50 Shades of Grey by E.L. James got its start by exploring the kinky love life of Bella Swan and Edward Cullen from Twilight.

Now a new player has entered the ring: The Love Hypothesis by author Ali Hazelwood.

In a Star Wars fan fiction on the fan archive site Archive of Our Own titled "Head over Feet," Hazelwood, under the pen name Ever-so-Reylo, took pains to explore the fiery relationship between Rey and Kylo Ren (Reylo) in a modern setting. Now, years later, Hazelwood's Reylo-turned-original-rom-com has become its own moneymaker, set to premiere this September.

The Love Hypothesis follows Olive Smith (originally Rey, with Lili Reinhart playing her in the movie adaptation), a PhD candidate who, after an impulsive kiss with Professor Adam Carlsen (originally Kylo Ren/Ben Solo, with Tom Bateman playing him in the adaptation), finds herself involved in a fake-dating plot.

It may sound like your average fan fiction at first, but Hazelwood's take on a steamy Reylo romance became exceedingly popular. So much so that Hazelwood started thinking about trying her hand at something original, pulling some of her fan fiction completely and reworking it. It was something Hazelwood revealed in an interview with Collider that her agent encouraged her to do so: "She was like, 'I saw that you wrote something about maybe pulling some of your fics and reworking them. And I wanted to tell you that I'm a literary agent and I would love to see some of your manuscripts, if you're interested in it.'"

Despite being set nowhere near a galaxy, far, far away, the character dynamics in Hazelwood's fanfic were absolutely Star Wars. There were characters like Finn and Poe as Rey's well-meaning but judgmental friends, as well as characters like Dr. Phasma (originally an antagonist in the Star Wars sequels) and Professor Solo, aka the legendary Han Solo. With that in mind, many changes had to be made in order to move away from that universe.

Yet, even with all these changes, The Love Hypothesis' origins certainly don't look as if they'll be swept under the rug anytime soon. Even Bateman (who is married to real-life Rey actor, Daisy Ridley) is aware of the STEM-based rom-com's Star Wars beginnings.

It may not exactly be The Hunt for Ben Solo film, but for Star Wars fans looking for some continuation of Not Rey and Not Kylo's stories, Amazon MGM and Hazelwood have just the story for you.

The Love Hypothesis will premiere on Prime Video this September 23.