The Love Hypothesis Trailer Continues 2026’s Hottest Romance Trend

It has been a buzzy year for romance — and it’s not slowing down anytime soon. On June 27, Prime Video dropped its first teaser trailer for The Love Hypothesis, the highly anticipated adaptation of Ali Hazelwood’s novel of the same name (which, in turn, began as Star Wars-inspired #Reylo fanfiction).

The film stars Lili Reinhart and Tom Bateman — Daisy Ridley’s real-life husband, deepening the Reylo layers — as Olive and Adam, a graduate student and professor who begin a fake relationship so Olive can convince her bestie Ahn (Rachel Marsh) she’s not still pining after Jeremy (Nicholas Duvernay), who Ahn has feelings for.

While viewers will have to wait for Sept. 23 to stream The Love Hypothesis, the trailer provides an enticing first look at the academics’ swoony scheme. Its old-timey narrator even manages to make a science lesson sound a little sexy: “The universe is built on trying to find order through connection. Molecules stay in motion, vibrating and colliding until they find a match. And when they do, something miraculous happens — they form a bond.”

Is that scientifically sound? Beats me! But the first footage of the fake-daters confirms chemistry abounds — from their first kiss and Adam scooping Olive into his arms to the gruff professor proposing a smooch in front of her pals.

While the fake-dating trope isn’t new, The Love Hypothesis arrives at a time when viewers have been particularly obsessed with it. Spring rom-com You, Me, & Tuscany saw Halle Bailey’s Anna convince an Italian man’s family that she was his fiancée — a ruse he’s glad to keep up once he realizes how much everyone loves his fake betrothed. They don’t work out (she’s in love with his brother à la While You Were Sleeping), but typically, it’s the pretend pair that catches very real feelings.

And look at Off Campus, summer’s breakout hit series, which begins with college classmates Hannah and Garrett agreeing to a mutually beneficial pretend relationship, only to realize they’re actually quite into each other.

There’s something exciting about the way a fake romance puts people into close, personal proximity to each other — how the frisson of a physical spark is so strong it compels them to think, Wait, is there something here? As Reinhart recently told Deadline, there’s a feel-good twist to how The Love Hypothesis approaches this time-honored trope.

“I think sometimes, fake dating comes out of wanting to get the attention of another man,” she says, “whereas this fake dating is coming out of, she wants her friend to be happy.” Well, aww!