Inside Tom Bateman & Daisy Ridley’s Married Life & ‘Love Hypothesis’ Connection
One might say it’s fate that Tom Bateman became the leading man of The Love Hypothesis, due to how intertwined the book it’s based on is with his wife.
Bateman’s Adam Carlsen, a Stanford professor, fake dates and falls for PhD student Olive (Lili Reinhart) in the Prime Video movie, which is an adaptation of Ali Hazelwood’s popular debut novel. It turns out that Bateman has a rom-com-esque love story of his own with his wife, Star Wars alum Daisy Ridley.
Since they met, the Hollywood power couple has been selective about what relationship details they share with the public, though Bateman has opened up more since he started promoting The Love Hypothesis. Swooon has gathered details about the couple below.
How is Daisy Ridley connected to The Love Hypothesis?
You might already know why it’s such a remarkable coincidence that Bateman is playing the character that he does in The Love Hypothesis. Before it became a novel in 2021, Hazelwood wrote The Love Hypothesis as a Star Wars fanfiction, giving the characters Kylo Ren and Rey a romance in an alternate universe.
Olive is Rey, who was played by Ridley in the Star Wars franchise. Bateman’s Adam was originally Kylo Ren, played by Adam Driver. Neither Ridley nor Bateman were aware of the connection before he’d already signed on to the rom-com.
“I was told it after I was offered the job,” Bateman told ScreenRant. “They said, ‘By the way, this is loosely where the inspiration came from, and I thought that meant that that was what inspired Ali Hazelwood to start writing, because the book is obviously so different from anything. But it wasn’t until the announcement of the cast that I became fully aware of how much love there is from the fans out there. It just made me very excited to be part of it.”
Ridley is all for it. Bateman explained his wife’s reaction to the story’s origins to Extra TV, “She just went, ‘I heard about that,’ but we didn’t think it was going to be a big thing until the Montreal shooting, and I was made aware that it was a bigger deal than I thought it was. But she thought it was great. She basically said, ‘Anything that gets anyone reading.'”
Before the movie officially came out, Bateman and Ridley went to a Love Hypothesis screening in London, renting out a London theater for the two of them. Bateman told Bustle that his wife loved the film.
Prime Video
How did Tom Bateman and Daisy Ridley meet?
Getting into Bateman and Ridley’s own meet-cute — they met on the set of the 2017 film Murder on the Orient Express, which was filmed in November 2016. Bateman played the charming bon vivant, Bouc, and Ridley played a mysterious governess.
When the movie premiered in November 2017, producer Judy Hofflund was the first person to break the news of a relationship between the two actors, according to People. At the time, neither confirmed a relationship outright and wouldn’t for several years, though they were next photographed holding hands in April 2018.
How long have Tom Bateman and Daisy Ridley been married?
In early 2019, engagement speculation began when Ridley started wearing a ring on that finger. Later that year, she avoided confirming if she was engaged during an interview with Marie Claire, explaining she always planned to keep her relationship with Bateman private.
“The thing is, I’ve never talked about my personal life,” she added. “So I won’t talk about it now. I’m so aware of how much information about my life is out there, so if there’s one thing I don’t want to talk about…”
In 2023, Ridley confirmed the change in her relationship status in a low-key way. When a Rolling Stone interviewer noticed her ring and asked if she was married, the actress simply said, “Yes! I got married.”
Since then, Bateman and Ridley have worked together again. Bateman wrote a thriller about a toxic marriage called Magpie and cast Ridley in the lead role.
“I found that process wonderful because our tastes align on basically everything,” Ridley said, per Daily Mail. “I think he’s a brilliant writer and we were so clear about what it is that we wanted to make. And we’ve achieved that.”
Bateman credited Ridley for coming up with the film’s idea. “That was our first go of many, and we learned so much from it,” Bateman told Bustle, adding that he’s already written another project “very much for Daisy.” He added, “We’d never done it before, and we just willed it into the world with love and sheer determination.”
Do Tom Bateman and Daisy Ridley have kids?
Bateman and Ridley don’t have any children, at least as far as we know. They also haven’t shared whether they have plans to start a family.
The Love Hypothesis, September 23, Prime Video
