Three years after it was announced Ali Hazelwood’s best-selling novel, The Love Hypothesis, would be developed on screen, we finally have a full cast. Lili Reinhart will pair up alongside Tom Bateman, as Deadline has confirmed they will play the novel’s leading couple. Among the cast is also Rachel Marsh, Nicholas Duvernay, Arty Froushan, and actor and comedian, Jaboukie.
Deadline also announced Claire Scanlon as the film’s director. Scanlon has a reputable portfolio, as she also directed Set it Up, another popular romantic comedy that featured on Netflix. Following the casting reveal, Scanlon took to social media to express enthusiasm on what’s to come.
The Love Hypothesis is about a PhD student who proposes a fake relationship with a professor at her university. This pact is to help our protagonist, Olive, convince her best friend she is over an ex and Adam, her love interest, secure research funding. With all the makings of a fictionalized romantic affair caused by incessant scheming and miscommunication, they eventually fall in love.
The storyline may raise a few eyebrows and maybe a few HR concerns, but the sizzling romance is its biggest concern. With Reinhart and Bateman leading, they already have the sizzling part nailed down!
Though Reinhart is mainly known for her role in the teen drama, Riverdale, she also has a rom-com under her belt for anyone skeptical of her range. She starred in the 2022 multiverse-eque Netflix original, Look Both Ways, alongside Danny Ramirez and David Corenswet.
As we wait for more updates regarding the film, we have Reinhart’s marketing keeping us entertained. Much to fans’ approval, she has built excitement for the upcoming film using social media trends and popular sounds on TikTok. One of her most recent videos gave her 30 million views and final stamps of approval from ‘Hazelwood Hive’.
2025 is the year of page-to-screen romance adaptations as several popular authors also share news of book adaptations. Some names on the list include Kennedy Ryan, Emily Henry, and Carley Fortune. This comes during the romance book craze resurged by Book Tok, a demographic of TikTok creators who post book content.
Within Book Tok, Hazelwood is one of the most talked about authors, mainly because of how quickly she pushes out books. With only a four-year gap since her debut, she already has 10 novels and novellas published.
Per her PHD in neuroscience, she uses her expertise to write romances with most of her characters as scientists. Some of which she calls “steminist literature.”
The consistency in scientific jargon and quirky banter between characters in Hazelwood’s novels brings along a loyal following. Her romance novels are the more popular ones. With a total of seven contemporary novels published, multiple of them have made the New York Times bestsellers list. In 2022, The Love Hypothesis spent 37 weeks on the bestseller list, and peaked at number 12, with a total of 750,000 copies sold.
With its popularity in the book world, we’re all excited to see how it will transpire as a film!
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