Tom Bateman and Daisy Ridley’s Complete Relationship Timeline

Tom Bateman and Daisy Ridley are one of Hollywood’s most private couples. That didn’t stop Bateman from starring in a rom-com inspired by his wife’s iconic Star Wars character.

For those who don’t know, The Love Hypothesis is Prime Video’s film adaptation of the Ali Hazlewood novel of the same name. The film follows Olive (Lili Reinhart), a Stanford PhD student who pretends to date a notoriously surly biology professor, Dr. Adam Carlsen (Tom Bateman), to convince her best friend that it’s okay to date the guy Olive had a crush on. Ah, the old fake-dating trope! How we love you.

Bateman’s role in the film is somewhat of an Easter egg, considering Hazlewood’s bestseller was based on a Star Wars fan fiction she wrote about Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver). While the traditionally published novel removed the obvious Star Wars references, Dr. Carlsen’s first name is a clear homage to Driver, while a more villainous character just so happens to share Bateman’s first name…

“You can’t write that,” Bateman told USA Today of the connection. “The serendipity is so out there because they were leaning towards me anyway.” And yes, Bateman was told about the connection when he was offered the role—though he was a little confused about the details.

“I genuinely thought what [director Claire Scanlon] meant by that was Ali Hazelwood was inspired by Star Wars to start writing some fan fiction, and that gave her a taste for writing,” he says. It wasn’t until Reinhart posted her now viral TikTok video about Bateman’s casting that he understood The Love Hypothesis had started its life as Reylo fanfic. His first thought? “Press is going to be fun…”

Instead of shying away from the story’s origins, Bateman comes off like a truly proud husband every time it comes up. “[Daisy’s] character is so beloved by people,” he said during his Vanity Fair Lie Detector Test. “To have that impact on people and to have a sort of spin-off and things being inspired by it, that’s a kind of dream, right?”

Meanwhile, Ridley seems just as proud of her husband, calling the situation “sweet” and promoting the film on Instagram.

But how did they get together in real life, and was there any fake dating involved in their love story? The couple has done a pretty good job keeping details about their relationship private. Below, here’s the complete relationship timeline of Tom Bateman and Daisy Ridley.

November 2016: Bateman and Ridley meet on the set of Murder on the Orient Express.

November 2017: Ridley and Bateman’s connection gets exposed by a film producer promoting Murder on the Orient Express. “Something kinda happened with Tom and Daisy right? That’s public news,” Judy Hofflund told People. “I should keep my mouth shut. Oh well.”

Bateman himself declines to answer questions about his relationship with his female costars and brushes off Hofflund’s remark on the red carpet. “They like to create a buzz, they’ve got to otherwise no one will come and see the movie,” he says, according to the People article.

December 2017: Bateman attends a Star Wars: The Last Jedi premiere after-party, further fueling romance rumors.

April 18, 2018: Ridley is photographed holding hands with “rumored boyfriend Tom Bateman” in London, though the cutest paparazzi photos show them each carrying one handle of their farmer’s market tote.

April 2019: Ridley sparks engagement rumors when she starts wearing a diamond ring on her left ring finger.

November 2019: Ridley addresses the rumors…kind of. “It’s a really nice ring that I wear,” she told Marie Claire. “The thing is, I’ve never talked about my personal life. 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…”

September 2020: Bateman is seen wearing a gold band on his own left hand, per photos published by Just Jared.

May 2022: Deadline reports Ridley is set to star in Magpie, a thriller ideated by Ridley and written by Bateman.

September 2022: The pair make a rare joint appearance at a special screening of Blonde before posing together at another London event a few days later.

January 2023: Ridley confirms she “got married” during an interview with Rolling Stone, though she doesn’t provide any further details.

However, her husband’s identity becomes clear during an interview with AP Entertainment. “I am starting a movie on Monday that I had the idea of and that my husband has written and that I’m starring in, of course,” she said. “It’s very exciting.”

March 2024: Bateman calls Ridley one of his “favorite actors” during a red-carpet interview at the SXSW premiere of Magpie. “Being able to write to what I know her strengths are was so rewarding,” he told CBR. “I could be really daring and bold and write a whole scene with no dialogue and just her character’s thoughts. Sam [Yates] our director, he agreed. He said, ‘Man, you can just stick a camera on Daisy, and she’s got it going and she can hold that.’”

Meanwhile, these photos are taken at SXSW…

October 2024: Ridley claims the toxic marriage in Magpie is nothing like her own. “It’s funny, because people tell me and Tom that we’re the happiest married people they know,” she told People.

October 2025: The happy married people holds hands during Paris Fashion Week.

July 2025: Lili Reinhart confirms Tom Bateman will play Dr. Adam Carlsen in The Love Hypothesis, a film based on a novel based on Reylo fanfiction…. You know the rest.

This article may be updated.