Finn/Poe

Finn and Poe Dameron in Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Finn/Poe is a non-canon slash ship in the Star Wars fandom. It is commonly called "Stormpilot" by fans.

Media Coverage

I was, frankly, shocked by how much positive coverage the ship got by non-fandom media sources in addition to the usual suspects like The Mary Sue and The Geekiary. For example:

• USA Today: The Poe/Finn 'Star Wars' bromance has taken over the Internet
• The Guardian: Would a gay kiss in Star Wars: Episode VIII cause a disturbance in the Force?
• The Telegraph: Star Wars hero Poe Dameron: is Disney brave enough to make him gay?
• MTV: This is the Star Wars Couple Everyone's Shipping (Hint: It's Not Rey and Finn)
• E!Online: This Is the Star Wars: The Force Awakens Couple That Everyone Is Already Passionately Shipping
• New Statesman: Star Wars, queer representation and the mainstreaming of slash
• Buzzfeed: The Internet Has Decided On Its Favourite "Force Awakens" Couple
• Huffington Post: Why Some ‘Star Wars’ Fans Think These Two Characters Are Gay
• Moviepilot: Are Finn & Poe Dameron Gay In Star Wars 7? Maybe Not, But The Discussion Is Important
• io9: Will Disney Ever Let The Force Awakens' Finn and Poe Be a Couple?
• Comic Book Resources: Online Support Grows for Potential 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Romance
• Bustle: Finn & Poe In 'The Force Awakens' Is A New Bromance For Star Wars Fans To Ship
• Twitch: Destroy All Monsters: Gay Or Straight, Finn/Poe Matters
• Metro: Did Star Wars: The Force Awakens introduce a gay romance without us realising?
• DigitalSpy: Why Finn and Poe are the real love story of Star Wars The Force Awakens
• NewNowNext: The Internet Wants “Star Wars” Heroes Finn And Poe To Be A Couple
• Hypable: Is Star Wars setting up Poe Dameron as its first queer protagonist?
• Salon: A gay "Star Wars" hero could save lives in this galaxy: Why the lip bite that launched a thousand 'ships' matters
• and more

Cast and Crew Reactions

The film's cast and crew took note of the couple's popularity and rumors began to fly.

In an interview on Ellen the day before the film's US release, actor Oscar Isaac, who plays Poe Dameron, seemed to tease shippers:

I think it's very subtle romance that's happening. You have to just look very closely you have to watch it a few times to see the little hints but there was. At least I was playing romance. In the cockpit I was playing there was a deep romance there. I won't say with which character."

In an interview with Shortlist a few weeks later, however, actor John Boyega, who plays Finn, seemed to squash the speculation:

Shortlist: Have you heard the fan speculation that Finn and Poe's relationship is more than just a bromance? What do you think about that?

John: Yeah, I've seen that! It's so not true. Oscar [Isaac] wishes it was though, it's all in his head. It's a brotherly love, a bromance, that's for sure.

Later, however, Boyega expressed support for Finn/Poe shippers, stating:

It's fantastic. Any opportunity to give fans the moment to interact and to imagine more than what the movie was, it's great. Fans have to wait a long time — they need something to do while they're waiting for these installments to come out. So it's great that the fans are talking and seeing more unique and diverse ways of showing love within Star Wars and I think it's really really cool.

He also added:

"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."

Writer J.J. Abrams has also stated that he is open to the possibility of a gay Star Wars character in the next film, explaining:

"When I talk about inclusivity, it's not excluding gay characters [...] To me the fun of Star Wars is exploring the possibilities, so it seems insanely narrow minded to say that there wouldn't be a homosexual character in that world."

So there you have it, folks. Now it's time to wait and see what Star Wars VIII will contain in terms of LGBT representation.

Fandom

Number of Star Wars fanfics posted on An Archive of Our Own by ship after the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

After the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens in late 2015, Finn/Poe rapidly gained popularity. Within days of the release of the film, there were more than 80 works on popular fanfiction archive An Archive of Our Own tagged as Finn/Poe, and as of April 18, 2016, just 4 months after the US release of the film, the number had climbed to more than 2300. (To give a point of reference, that easily puts it among the top 100 most popular ships on AO3, the cutoff for which was 1,819 fics as of July 2015.)

However, the popularity of the ship was later overtaken by another non-canon slash ship: Hux/Kylo Ren, prompting considerable discussion among fans when the change was discovered, as well as accusations of racism due to the fact that Poe and Finn are both characters of color and Hux and Kylo Ren are both white.

Related Links

• Poe Dameron/Finn on AO3

References

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