Reylo stans rejoice! Bisous Pictures have partnered with author Ali Hazelwood on an adaption of her New York Times Best Selling novel, The Love Hypothesis. Deadline reports that a deal was struck between Elizabeth Cantillon and MRC Film to adapt the Berkley-published book.
The Love Hypothesis is one of a growing number of titles which gained popularity through the 'BookTok' community on TikTok. It is a romance book set amongst academia which follows the story of a young, hot, dreamy and talented - naturally - professor named (more on this later) Adam Carlsen, and a Ph.D. candidate, Olive Smith. The pair end up caught in a lie to portray a convincing and romantic couple, with the story portraying - and subverting - many tropes used in classic romance tales.
“Bisous Pictures is thrilled to be working with Ali to amplify her voice and bring this magical book to the screen,” said Cantillon, with Hazelwood adding: “It’s a true privilege to have Elizabeth and such a talented and experienced team of people working on adapting The Love Hypothesis, and I’m very excited for this next step in Olive and Adam’s story!”
Looking more closely at the cover of the novel, however, and you would be forgiven for thinking you might have seen the couple before. Hazelwood began writing fan fiction for the Star Trek fandom, before moving on to Star Wars. And yes, if you haven't already figured it out, the main characters are based on Kylo Ren and Rey from the Star Wars sequel trilogy. Archive of Our Own is where The Love Hypothesis took flight, albeit under a different title, and where a legion of fans joined in Olive and Adam's romance.
In a 2021 interview with Collider's Carly Lane, the day after news broke that The Love Hypothesis officially became a New York Times bestseller, Hazelwood spoke at length about the freedom fan fiction offered. She explained how it was allowing writers to find their voice and express their feelings on mediums where they would find it harder to do in traditional publishing houses.
"I was really, really into writing fan fiction, first for the Star Trek fandom and then for the Star Wars fandom. And I loved it. It was just, it was this amazing community. I made a lot of friends and I was just having a lot of fun. And then what happened is that I started slowly thinking about trying to write something original, just to challenge myself and to do something different. And while I was in that kind of mood, my agent started reading my fan fiction on Archive of Our Own and then she reached out with a DM. 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 you some of your manuscripts, if you're interested in it."
No release date has yet been announced for The Love Hypothesis, but the petition for Driver and Daisy Ridley to take on the lead roles is surely moments away from launching.