SPOILER WARNING: This article contains minor spoilers for "Star Wars: The Force Awakens."
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" is a film defined by friendship, not romance: Some of its best moments are seen in the budding friendships between Finn & Rey and Finn & Poe, not to mention the longstanding bond between Han Solo and Chewbacca. But while there's no overt love story on screen in the record-breaking blockbuster, some fans have -- rather inevitably -- interpreted its subtext and devised potential romantic pairings, known commonly as "shipping."
And the most popular "ship" so far? Finn and Poe Dameron, as played by John Boyega and Oscar Isaac.
As picked up by outlets including Fusion and Buzzfeed, social media platforms such as Tumblr have popularized the idea that Finn and Poe -- call them "Pinn" or "Foe" -- could be "more than friends," even if that's not what's presented in the film. In the movie, the two save each other’s lives, Poe rechristens the deserting Stormtrooper known as FN-2187 as “Finn,” Poe lets Finn keep his jacket because “it suits [him],” and they share a meaningful moment before heading off into battle, as seen above.
Those are all, as depicted in the movie, moments of friendship -- though plenty of movie romances have been built on less -- but it's enough evidence to have inspired plenty of fan art, gifs, photosets and unsurprisingly NSFW fan fiction.
for bromance pic.twitter.com/IWXqWracmt— Monica Byrne (@monicabyrne13) December 23, 2015
In a "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" interview aired the day before the film's release, DeGeneres asked Boyega, Isaac and Daisy Ridley (Rey) about potential romances involving their characters -- all were typically vague and jokey, though Isaac's answer and an interjection from Boyega gave further fodder to those who want to believe.
"I think it's a very subtle relationship that's happening," Isaac said. "You have to watch it a few times to see the little hints, but there was. At least I was playing romance." Boyega starts to interject to agree, and Isaac clarifies, "I won't say with which character."
Directed by J.J. Abrams, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" is in theaters now, but fans will have to wait another year and a half before Finn, Poe and Rey return in Episode VIII (written and directed by Rian Johnson), scheduled for release on May 26, 2017.