'The Love Hypothesis' Casts Daisy Ridley's Real-Life Husband in Novel Adaptation Inspired by Star Wars Fanfiction

The Love Hypothesis is officially heading to the big screen, and it’s bringing all the fake-dating, lab-coat, slow-burn swoon of Ali Hazelwood’s fan-favorite romance novel with it. The film, a production of Amazon MGM Studios, stars Riverdale’s Lili Reinhart as Olive Smith, a Ph.D. student with a major problem — she needs everyone to believe she’s in a relationship. The solution? A fake boyfriend in the form of grumpy, genius professor Dr. Adam Carlsen. But while we know Reinhart is locked in as the lovable Olive, the big question remains: who will play Adam? Well, now we know.

And it's the most brilliantly demented piece of PR you could imagine, because Tom Bateman (Murder on the Orient Express) has taken on the role. That's all well and good, but why is it demented? Well, Bateman happens to be married to Daisy Ridley. Still confused? Read on under the H2 and all will be explained as to why this casting is simply genius.

Directed by Claire Scanlon (Set It Up, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) and written by Sarah Rothschild (The Sleepover), the film will be executive produced by Reinhart and author Ali Hazelwood alongside Robert Down, Alyssa Altman, Jake Bongiovi, and Isobel Roberts. Elizabeth Cantillon (Persuasion, The Nightingale) is producing through Bisous Pictures, with Hazelwood calling the entire process “a dream come true” and expressing hope that fans of the book will fall in love all over again when the movie hits screens.

What Is 'The Love Hypothesis' About, Anyway?

Before The Love Hypothesis became a publishing sensation (and a permanent resident on BookTok’s romance must-read lists), it started life as Reylo fan fiction — specifically, a story posted to Archive of Our Own under the title Head Over Feet. Yes, that Reylo: Rey and Kylo Ren, as played by Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver in the Star Wars sequel trilogy. While Hazelwood’s novel has since been de-fandomed, eagle-eyed readers can still spot the inspiration on the cover art, which bears an uncanny resemblance to the galaxy-faring pair. Like many fan fiction-to-mainstream crossovers (Fifty Shades of Grey started as Twilight fic), The Love Hypothesis brings with it a built-in audience — and a huge weight of expectations for whoever steps into the Adam Carlsen role.

Set in the high-pressure world of academia, The Love Hypothesis follows Olive Smith (Reinhart), a third-year biology Ph.D. candidate who’s too focused on her research to bother with dating. But when her best friend starts asking questions, Olive blurts out that she’s already seeing someone — and seals the lie with a panic-kiss on the first available guy: Dr. Adam Carlsen. He’s infamously brilliant, socially cold, and not exactly known for being helpful. But to Olive’s surprise, Adam agrees to keep up the charade. What follows is a funny, heartfelt journey as their “relationship” starts feeling a lot less fake than either of them expected. But what does Ridley herself think of this entire endeavor based off her most famous character? Wouldn't you know it, we happen to know, since Daisy told Collider's Steve Weintraub:

"I mean, honestly, for anyone to just write a book is so impressive, let alone a New York Times bestseller, let alone something inspired by something I was part of. That's very thrilling. So, thank you, if anyone’s reading this. Whoever wrote The Love Hypothesis and The Hurricane Wars. Wow. Fucking cool."

Stay tuned for more updates on The Love Hypothesis.