Bonding with someone goes so quickly when you can talk about a shared interest. If you’re spending the whole conversation scraping up tidbits of life stuff to talk about, you might be doing it for hours. You talk about the weather, you talk about the city you’re in, you overanalyze the food you’re eating… it can be dreadful. But discover that both of your favorite films is Rogue One? Then sparks start flying instantly. 

Once you know that you’re a part of the same fandom, conversation flows much easier. You can talk about your favorite characters, quote lines from the movies to each other, and divulge your favorite fan theories, like how the text from the opening credits must still be flying through space at this very moment. You can skip the small talk and go straight to the important stuff, like how R2D2 deserves more credit and exactly what you’re going to do about that (make a petition on Change.org to institute a national R2D2 day).