Warning: Spoilers for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker ahead.
Oscar Isaac wanted to see a romance between his character Poe Dameron and Finn (John Boyega) in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and blames the "Disney overlords" for not allowing it. Isaac joined the storied Star Wars franchise in 2015's Star Wars: The Force Awakens as Resistance pilot Poe Dameron. When Poe is captured early on by the evil First Order, he's rescued by rogue Stormtrooper FN2187, who needs a pilot to escape - and Poe gives Finn his name. Though the pair are separated for much of the film and its followup, 2017's Star Wars: The Last Jedi, many fans "ship" Finn and Poe, with fandom dubbing the relationship StormPilot.
In the years since The Force Awakens released, Isaac and Boyega have encouraged the Finn-Poe ship - particularly those who are fans of the pairing - by playing into the idea at Star Wars conventions, in interviews and on social media. Leading into the release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, many fans wondered if Lucasfilm and its parent company Disney, along with director J.J. Abrams, would confirm the pairing or go another route by introducing a different romance for either or both characters. Prior to the film's release, Isaac confirmed Finn and Poe aren't gay in The Rise of Skywalker, but he wished they were. Now in a new interview, Isaac expands on his comments even further.
In an interview with IGN, Isaac reveals he did actively work to have Finn and Poe's relationship become more romantic in The Rise of Skywalker, but he was met by resistance from Disney. He said, "I think there could’ve been a very interesting, forward-thinking - not even forward-thinking, just, like, current-thinking - love story there, something that hadn’t quite been explored yet; particularly the dynamic between these two men in war that could’ve fallen in love with each other." Isaac concluded by saying. "I would try to push it a bit in that direction, but the Disney overlords were not ready to do that."
Rather than include any romance between the main trio, which additionally includes Daisy Ridley's Rey, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker had the characters look outside their little group. New character Zorii Bliss (Keri Russell) was revealed be a former romantic partner of Poe, while Rey's storyline largely focused on Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), culminating in a kiss between the two. Further, though fans believed Finn tried to tell Rey he loved her at one moment in the movie, both Boyega and Abrams have confirmed that wasn't what he wanted to say. Altogether, there's not much romance in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, but having Finn and Poe's relationship become more romantic would have made a lot of fans happy and been a major step forward for Star Wars in terms of LGBTQ representation.
Instead, The Rise of Skywalker has a brief lesbian kiss that's included as a blink-and-you'll-miss it moment during the final celebration. Many folks have grown increasingly frustrated with Hollywood filmmakers and studios - not just Disney, though they're often a perpetrator - including piecemeal representation of LGBTQ characters in scenes that are so brief as to be easily missed (or, more cynically, are easy to cut out to avoid controversy in certain international markets). It's clear from Isaac's comments here, and those he's made previously, that he's one of the many who are frustrated by too-little LGBTQ representation in major Hollywood blockbusters. His comments are also a reminder that while actors can sometimes collaborate with filmmakers on their characters, ultimately the decisions are up to the studios and directors.
So if it were up to Isaac, Star Wars fans would've had a Finn and Poe romantic relationship (or, at least, more romantic than what was depicted) in The Rise of Skywalker. Unfortunately, according to Isaac, it wasn't up to him. Still, that doesn't stop fans from continuing to ship Finn and Poe after Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.