It is a truth universally acknowledged that nothing encapsulates today’s weird cultural landscape better than The Love Hypothesis. If you are one of the nearly 68 million TikTok users who recently watched, liked, or shared a video of a tall guy scooping a lady up with one arm to Beyoncé’s “All Night,” you may have already unwittingly become part of the marketing campaign.
So what even is The Love Hypothesis? In short, it’s a forthcoming film adaptation of a 2021 romance novel by Ali Hazelwood. To get a little deeper, the book is an adaptation of a fanfic Hazelwood wrote about two characters from the Star Wars sequel films, and that couple was partly inspired by Jane Austen’s novel Pride & Prejudice. So the nine-second video that flitted across your phone screen was actually a viral ad for a movie based on a book based on another movie based on a different book. Oh, and the male lead in the upcoming rom-com is married to the female star of the the sci-fi movies in real life.
I know that’s a lot to unpack. But as a lifelong Star Wars nerd who’s read basically everything Hazelwood has ever written and spends way too much time on BookTok, I am fully qualified to break it all down. Here’s a guide to everything you need to know about The Love Hypothesis phenomenon in all its forms.
Who is Ali Hazelwood?
She is a former neuroscience professor who is now a full-time romance novelist and one of the most popular authors in that genre. (Ali Hazelwood is a pen name.) Her path to becoming a best-selling author was quick and unconventional, as Vulture reported:
[Hazelwood] found her literary agent in January 2020 in an unusual way. Instead of the long process most authors undertake that involves sending out countless letters seeking representation, it was an agent who reached out after reading stories Hazelwood had written on Archive of Our Own, a popular fan-fiction site. … Once Hazelwood posted that she was considering reworking her fics to publish them, Thao Le from the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency sent a message encouraging her to submit. They’ve worked together since …
The Love Hypothesis, which was Hazelwood’s first book, was published on September 14, 2021 and spent more than 40 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list. Since then she has published seven full-length novels along with several novellas and short stories. This fall she’s set to publish a full-length novel, release a short story on Prime and Kindle Unlimited, and launch a Kickstarter for a collection of dystopian romance novellas.
Why are Ali Hazelwood’s books so popular?
She has a distinctive voice, mixing humor and romance, and she writes a good “spicy” scene. Her books feature various popular fanfic-style tropes (enemies to lovers, grumpy/sunshine, age gap, academic setting, etc.). Hazelwood’s heroines are all nerdy women involved in STEM (yes, even the vampire), and their struggles navigating male-dominated fields are often a theme (which is why her books are often labeled “STEMinist”).
Beyond Hazelwood’s writing, her covers have a unique style, yet fit into the cute cartoon cover aesthetic that’s currently popular for romance novels. And she happened to enter the publishing world just as BookTok and Bookstagram were taking off.
“The Love Hypothesis came out in the middle of the pandemic when people needed a distraction,” she told Woman’s World. “A lot of romance novels received so much love from social media during 2020 and 2021 and I think this was one of them. The book just came out at the right time and had the right type of feel-good, happily-ever-after content people were craving.”
What is The Love Hypothesis about?
You can read the official synopsis here. Basically, Olive Smith is a third-year Ph.D. student studying biology at Stanford. She kisses Adam Carlsen, a young hotshot professor who looks just like Adam Driver, because she needs to pretend she’s seeing someone for frankly ridiculous reasons. Fake dating commences.
Olive is sunshine. Adam is grumpy, as he is almost literally Kylo Ren, minus the lightsaber and homicidal tendencies. The novel was adapted from “Head Over Feet,” a Reylo fanfic set in academia, which Hazelwood published on the site Archive of Our Own in 2018 (it has since been removed).
What the heck is “Reylo”?
This is the term from the Star Wars fandom for the romantic pairing of Kylo Ren and Rey Skywalker, the lead characters played by Adam Driver and Daisy Ridley in the 2010s sequel-film trilogy.
The Love Hypothesis is the most successful and most recognizable Reylo-related artistic endeavor. Hazelwood made no attempt to hide the connection, from the cover drawn by an illustrator known for her Reylo fan art to the reference to “hand-wavy Jedi mind tricks” in the official synopsis. But the “ship” has inspired several other traditionally published romance and fantasy books (not to mention a staggering amount of fan-created online content).
The “Reylos” seemingly influenced even the movies themselves. The sequel trilogy, almost unbelievably, was not fully planned out from the start. In the first film Rey and Kylo’s intense connection is plausibly platonic, but by the end of the third one it’s more clearly romantic. (Yes, this angered many Star Wars bros, but the end of The Rise of Skywalker actually managed to infuriate the Reylos, too.)
Why is Reylo so popular?
It is Pride & Prejudice in a galaxy far, far away, featuring big handsome man Adam Driver.
What does Star Wars have to do with Jane Austen?
The sequel films, particularly The Last Jedi, are chock-full of brooding, female-gaze, hand-flexing goodness, to the point that fans nicknamed Kylo Ren “Space Darcy.” This is more about similar vibes and visual similarities to the 2005 Pride & Prejudice film than specific plot points and character traits. (Sure, Kylo Ren is haughty like Darcy. But the bigger issue is that he’s commanding a fascist military junta bent on galactic domination due to his out-of-control daddy issues.)
While this may sound like a delusional Tumblr theory, Last Jedi director Rian Johnson cheekily confirmed the Pride & Prejudice connection in a 2021 interview with author Sariah Wilson. She later described the director’s comments to Geek Insider:
I asked him if in the scene where Kylo offers his hand, was that romantic/a botched proposal like Darcy in P&P and Rian said yes, very much so. He pointed out that it was NOT like Vader and Luke where Vader was attempting to manipulate and use Luke to get power, that Kylo was alone and wanting to be with Rey and wasn’t trying to manipulate her in that moment. Kylo wanted Rey.
As far as the elevator scene went – I asked if he had ever considered having Reylo kiss in that scene and he said no, that he was building romantic tension by having angst/longing in that scene. I told him that I wanted him to direct a version of Pride and Prejudice starring Adam and Daisy and he said, “I already have.”
Are all of Hazelwood’s books inspired by Reylo?
Her early books are all extremely Reylo-coded. The bad news: They feel a bit repetitive. The good news: If, like me, you weren’t wowed by The Love Hypothesis, there may still be a heavily Star Wars–inspired Ali Hazelwood romance for you. (Hot take: Love on the Brain is better than TLH.)
Each Hazelwood release has been less Reylo-y, and now she’s moved on to exploring different romance genres (college sports, paranormal, etc.). But she’ll still throw in the occasional Padmé joke for us Star Wars geeks.
When was The Love Hypothesis movie announced?
The film adaptation has been in the works since 2022. On July 16, 2025 it was announced that Lili Reinhart would star in and executive-produce the film adaptation for Amazon MGM Studios and MRC. Deadline reported:
Claire Scanlon (Set It Up) is directing The Love Hypothesis from a script by Sarah Rothschild (The Sleepover). Elizabeth Cantillon (The Girl in the Spider’s Web, Charlie’s Angels) is producing, with Reinhart, Catherine Hagedorn, and Hazelwood executive producing.
Reinhart, who is best known for playing Betty Cooper on Riverdale, shared the news by posting a photo of herself dressed as Olive:
Who else is in the cast?
Tom Bateman will play Dr. Adam Carlsen. This casting sent BookTok reeling, as Bateman is married to Rey herself, Daisy Ridley. (It’s possible some people also loved Bateman in Kenneth Branagh’s Agatha Christie films, but the social-media gushing was mainly focused on the wink at the book’s Reylo origins.)
Reinhart revealed Bateman’s casting with a TikTok hopping on the “My name is Pink and I’m really glad to meet you” trend:
@lilireinhart hello Dr. Adam Carlsen #thelovehypothesis
♬ Illegal - PinkPantheress
The rest of the cast (as seen in another Reinhart TikTok) includes Rachel Marsh as Anh, Nicholas Duvernay as Jeremy, Jaboukie Young-White as Malcolm, and Arty Froushan as Tom:
@lilireinhart welcome my new friends 🧪🙋🏼♀️ #thelovehypothesis
♬ original sound - Lili Reinhart
So Daisy Ridley is okay with this whole Reylo business?
Ridley has made some ambiguous statements on the Reylo pairing itself over the years. When asked about The Love Hypothesis specifically in a November 2023 Collider interview, she reacted positively … though it seems she was previously unaware of the book’s existence.
“I mean, honestly, for anyone to just write a book is so impressive, let alone a New York Times best seller, let alone something inspired by something I was part of,” she said. “That’s very thrilling.”
She shared a screenshot of the Deadline article announcing Bateman’s casting in TLH and liked his co-star’s post about the movie, so presumably she’s into it.
What about Adam Driver?
To my knowledge the actor has never commented on any of the fictional works inspired by the Reylo fandom. But based on everything I know about him, I’m sure he hates them.
How has Reinhart been promoting the movie?
She posted a series of videos of the cast partaking in popular TikTok trends as filming got underway in Montreal this summer.
@lilireinhart Tom doesn’t have TikTok, what trends should I confuse him with? #thelovehypothesis
♬ Meme - sylinx_.
Reinhart did not invent the one-arm-sweep challenge, nor was she the first to set it to “All Night.” But the post of her reenacting it with Bateman became so popular, getting 10.6 million likes and counting in less than a week, that people are now associating the trend with the film.
That video may reference a scene in the book (Adam sweeps Olive “into a full bridal carry”) and other videos contain Easter eggs for Love Hypothesis fans, like Reinhart’s Rey-like double-bun hairstyle:
Why is TikTok going crazy for these posts?
From Bateman’s casting to Reinhart’s videos playing on BookTok memes, the grumpy/sunshine trope, and general tall-man thirsting, the team behind TLH is signaling that they understand the platforms that drove the book’s popularity and why readers connected with the story. In a world of cringey marketing, it feels authentic.
Deft use of social media may even be drawing in people who weren’t previously aware of Reylo or Hazelwood. This testimonial about the power of Reinhart’s marketing was posted in a TikTok comment (which was then shared on Bluesky):
As another Bluesky user noted, Reylos may soon come in as many as six varieties:
Does The Love Hypothesis movie have a release date or a trailer?
Not yet. Filming wrapped around September 1, if Reinhart’s TikTok reenacting a goodbye scene from The Office is accurate. That probably means the movie will come out sometime in 2026.
@lilireinhart and that’s a wrap on #TheLoveHypothesis 💘
♬ original sound - .
Where can I watch The Love Hypothesis?
It’s still unclear if the film will be released in theaters or go straight to streaming.
That means you still have plenty of time to find your way to The Love Hypothesis, whether by intentionally picking up an Ali Hazelwood book, experiencing the thigh grab in The Last Jedi’s big lightsaber battle, or simply letting it seep into your “For You” page after liking too many Pride & Prejudice videos. Resistance is futile! (Sorry, wrong fandom.)