Also, if you're interoperating with Kotlin, a nullable reference works better than an Optional. A Kotlin nullable reference compiles down to a reference with intellij's @Nullable annotation, and a Kotlin non-nullable reference compiles down to a reference with intellij's @NotNull annotation.
It also works in the opposite direction: a Java parameter or return value annotated as @Nullable (doesn't have to be intellij's, the Kotlin compiler understands several annotation libraries) will appear as a nullable reference to Kotlin code, and a @NotNull or @Nonnull annotation makes it appear as a non-nullable reference.
The Optional class is typical of the halfassery that has accompanied many improvements to Java over the years. From java.util.logging to generics to streams, I'm invariably irritated by compromises particularly as they've decided that maintaining backward compatibility is now a secondary concern.
I've run out of patience in the direction Java has taken and I've been a user since 1.0.4 - I'm going to try Kotlin for my next project.