#college apps are a bitch

Okay, kids, it’s time for a long post… The Vanity Fair photoshoot for The Last Jedi came out today, and it might’ve lowkey confirmed some suspicions I’ve had since The Force Awakens.

As you all know, each Star Wars trilogy set tends to follow the same pattern. In the first movie of the set (A New Hope, The Phantom Menace), OT3 forms (Luke/Leia/Han, Obi-Wan/Anakin/Padmé) and eventually blows the bejesus out of some annoying space station (the Death Star, the Trade Federation control ship over Naboo). It seems that The Force Awakens adheres to this basic plot structure: OT3? Rey, Finn, and Poe. Check. ✅ Annoying space station? RIP Starkiller Base. Check. ✅

Now, the second movie is where things get interesting. One OT3 member (Luke, Obi-Wan) splits from the group to go on a quest of some sort. Left alone together, the remaining pair (Han/Leia, Anakin/Padmé) bonds and eventually falls in love. At the end of TFW, we see Rey finally meeting Luke on his secluded island. Out of the four VF covers that came out, one is exclusively dedicated to Luke and Rey in that particular setting. From this, we can glean that Rey’s meeting with Luke won’t be a five-minute thing where she just gives Luke his lightsaber and peaces out. Nope. Rey is going to spend an extended amount of time on that island, training with Luke and learning the ways of the Jedi. So who does that leave us with? Finn and Poe. The VF shoot packages them together (with Finn wearing Poe’s jacket, no less) for a reason. Since their cover also shows Rose and BB-8, it’s a good guess to say that Finn and Poe are going to spend most of the next movie holed up with the Resistance on a base somewhere. Which makes sense, considering that Finn is still recovering from the lightsaber wound inflicted on him by the emo kid. Since the last shot we have of Poe in TFW is of him worriedly running after Finn’s body on a stretcher, I’d wager that our favorite Resistance pilot is going to be spending a lot of time at Finn’s bedside. Talking… Bonding… Falling in love?

Of course, this is all speculation. The directors could pull a fast one and completely break from the established pattern of the previous trilogy sets. It would admittedly make sense, especially if they wanted to shock viewers already familiar with the franchise. However, I have hope that they won’t. Having two lead characters in an interracial same-sex relationship would complete a true update to the old movies while shouting out POC and LGBT Star Wars fans that are often excluded from the fandom and geek culture in general. Also, let’s be real here: Finn and Poe’s onscreen chemistry is undeniable. Their reunion, with Finn and Poe running to each other and embracing while romantic music swelled in the background, was probably the gayest thing to grace movie theaters in 2015. Everyone saw it… There’s a reason why a single lip bite launched a thousand fan blogs (this one included).

In conclusion: Stormpilot needs to be a thing, if it isn’t already. That is all.