Star Wars’ John Boyega on Stormpilot: “You Never Know What They’re Going to Pull”

Jill Pantozzi | February 16th, 2016

Star Wars actor John Boyega just added another layer to the very complicated cake that is Stormpilot.

Stormpilot, if you’re not already aware, is the official fandom term for enjoying thinking about Boyega’s Finn and Oscar Isaac’s Poe Dameron in a relationship together (a.k.a. shipping). While it’s not been confirmed in any official capacity, both actors have been asked to talk about it several times.

In January, Boyega told Shortlist, “It’s so not true. Oscar wishes it was though, it’s all in his head. It’s a brotherly love, a bromance, that’s for sure.” While Isaac has said he was definitely playing romance, even if it was just through subtle hints.

Speaking to Radio Times more recently, Boyega reiterated his previous stance but left the door open for possibilities:

As far as I’m concerned, when JJ [Abrams] sat us down to go through the script, it was a bromance…But now I’m learning what Mark Hamill said before when he didn’t know that Darth Vader was Luke’s father: you never know what they’re going to pull. I’m looking at the director Rian [Johnson] closely so he can get me involved early, so I can prepare myself. So who knows?

Who knows, indeed.

You may recall, Episode VII (which just announced production and new, exciting cast members) had its release date pushed back based on positive “audience reaction to the new characters.” Many fans jumped at the chance to hope it means Stormpilot will become canon but I’m not sure Disney is ready to go there. However, as Boyega said, “you never know.”

While Stormpilot may be the talk of the town online, it seems Boyega is still unclear just how strong fan feelings are about he and Isaac’s characters getting together. He also told Radio Times, “What’s so funny, I posted a video the other day of myself working out, skipping, and in the background Oscar is just like, ‘Yeah baby go on!’ and people just went crazy.”

@mrcalliet influenced my cardio routine today. Doesn’t hurt that I have Oscar Isaac in the background cheering me on pic.twitter.com/RzEpG5Zy9Z

— John Boyega (@JohnBoyega) February 11, 2016

Boyega has now officially joined the club of Star Wars actors doing intense workouts (see: Daisy Ridley’s deadlift, Isaac’s wobbly wheelbarrow).

Personally, while I love the idea of Stormpilot in theory I have some issues with it in actual practice. My take on Finn in The Force Awakens is that he lacks real life experience and human interaction. Thanks to his First Order, brainwashed upbringing he’s never met anyone different. He finally makes the bold decision to escape but has his eyes opened to the world in the process and that includes his first reactions when meeting Poe and Rey.

Finn puts on a facade but once Poe allows him to drop that, he immediately goes into thinking Poe is the coolest guy in the universe. He’s excited he made a friend and even more excited to find out he didn’t die like he previously thought. This innocent and wide-eyed view can also be seen when he takes on what he thinks is the appropriate “hero” mantle when he thinks Rey is in need of rescue on Jakku. Slowly but surely he starts building up his personality away from the First Order and turns out to be a true hero anyway but to me he initially comes off as a person getting their first taste of life and freedom. And he has room to grow.

All that said, I do hope at the very least they decide to make Poe canonically queer as the Star Wars universe really needs some representation in that area.

(top pic via io9)