Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey navigate a double life in dramatic new teaser for Fellow Travelers
Matt Bomer landed his Fellow Travelers role after turning down a part in the Barbie movie. (Showtime/Paramount+)
Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey are about to get steamy behind closed doors in a new teaser for their queer political drama Fellow Travelers.
There’s a lot of queer forbidden love on our screens right now.
From a British prince and the son of a president in Matthew López’s wildly successful Red, White & Royal Blue film adaptation, to two French teenagers keeping their love a secret in new, tender flick Lie With Me, LGBTQ+ romance is being kept in the shadows.
It’s no different on Paramount+’s new series Fellow Travelers, either. Starring Bridgerton and Wicked heartthrob Jonathan Bailey and Magic Mike sex god Matt Bomer, the eight-part limited series follows two men in love, across four decades that proved to be pretty tumultuous for queer people.
Their treacherous romance begins in Washington DC during the McCarthy era in the 1950s, when anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination was rife.
Bomer plays Hawkins Fuller, a political official with a successful behind-the-scenes career in a state department. Bailey is Tim Laughlin, a newcomer with a steadfast religious faith. They’re not quite two people you’d imagine to fall desperately in love, but that’s what makes Fellow Travelers so intriguing.
Based on Thomas Mallon’s 2007 novel of the same name, Fellow Travelers follows the star-crossed pair through the Vietnam War in the 1960s, the boozy, drug-fuelled party scene of the nihilistic ‘70s, and then through the devastating AIDS crisis of the ‘80s.
Along the way, their paths and lives intertwine with three other lead characters – Marcus (Law & Order’s Jelani Alladin), Lucy (M3GAN’s Allison Williams) and Frankie (Frozen’s Noah J Ricketts).
In a short but intense new teaser, we see Tim slip into Hawkins’ hotel room, before Hawkins slips out of his jacket. Evidently, this gay love story is also a gay lust story.
Back in May, the pair, who are both queer themselves, hinted at their characters’ “extraordinary” chemistry and “intimate” sex scenes.
“To me, being queer also is about, as two men, how you negotiate your giving of your body to the other person,” Bailey explained to Vanity Fair. “That is something that I’ve always yearned to see properly done because I know how extraordinary it is to experience it.”
“The nuance of a complicated, volatile queer relationship is the power balance. Every single sex scene is a meticulous examination of power.”
“There’s a level of trust and intimacy that’s even more valuable when society is against you,” added Bomer. “You keep your secrets together.”
The new teaser also gives a short glimpse of Gypsy star Erin Neufer in character as Mary Johnson, while other stars on the cast list include Linus Roache, Will Brill and Christine Horne.
The mini trailer also confirms that Fellow Travelers will premiere on 27 October in the US, giving fans the perfect series to binge as the long, cold autumn nights roll around.
A first look trailer released back in June showed Bomer’s Hawkins and Bailey’s Tim slowly crossing paths in a corridor, before erupting into quick flashes of the lives that lay ahead of them – including passionate embraces, stolen kisses, police raids, and more than a few tears.
Fellow Travelers debuts Friday 27 October on Paramount+ with Showtime in the US, and on 28 October on Paramount+ in the UK.
