You either love them or you hate them — there is no in between. From Star Wars‘ Kylo Ren and Rey to Gossip Girl‘s Dan and Blair, TV and movie fans have lots of opinions about which couples left the right impression.
The Star Wars sequel trilogy introduced viewers to a new generation of characters — and relationships. The Force Awakens, which premiered in 2015, hinted at a potential romance between Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Finn (John Boyega) after they joined the Resistance in an effort to take down the First Order.
In the next two films, Finn’s story line was put on the back burner as Rey’s unexplained connection with Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) took center stage.
“I don’t think [their relationship is] all one thing,” Driver explained to Entertainment Weekly in 2019. “Part of the fun of playing it is the boundaries of it keep changing. At times it’s more intimate, sometimes less intimate. Sometimes it’s codependent. And then it’s, obviously, adversarial.”
Meanwhile, Ridley questioned what kind of future the pair could have together. “I do know about Reylo. I don’t know how I feel about it because everyone’s talking about the toxic thing of a relationship when it’s essentially emotional [abuse]. It’s a tricky road,” the actress told fans at Star Wars Celebration that same year.
She added: “I do feel like, deep down, Kylo thinks what he’s doing is right and he doesn’t think he’s wrong, but he has also killed so many people. So I can’t really get behind in that, in a personal way. Maybe there’s redemption. Who knows? Maybe we explore that in the film.”
In The Last Jedi, Rey and Kylo Ren shared a kiss before the villain’s ultimate demise. The dynamic made headlines again when Boyega called out the way his character was ignored in favor of Rey and Kylo Ren’s story.
“You get yourself involved in projects and you’re not necessarily going to like everything,” he told GQ in September 2020 about his time with the franchise. “[But] what I would say to Disney is do not bring out a Black character, market them to be much more important in the franchise than they are and then have them pushed to the side. It’s not good. I’ll say it straight up.”
The U.K. native previously pointed out the difference between Finn’s journey and the other leads.
“Like, you guys knew what to do with Daisy Ridley, you knew what to do with Adam Driver,” Boyega recalled during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter one year prior. “You knew what to do with these other people, but when it came to Kelly Marie Tran, when it came to John Boyega, you know f—k all. So, what do you want me to say?”
The Woman King star continued: “What they want you to say is, ‘I enjoyed being a part of it. It was a great experience.’ Nah, nah, nah. I’ll take that deal when it’s a great experience. They gave all the nuance to Adam Driver, all the nuance to Daisy Ridley. Let’s be honest. Daisy knows this. Adam knows this. Everybody knows. I’m not exposing anything.”
Scroll down for more polarizing couples through TV and movie history: