Fellow Travelers: New clip teases ‘extraordinary’ Jonathan Bailey and Matt Bomer sex scene
Jonathan Bailey suspects he might have kept Matt Bomer awake with his Wicked dance rehearsals while filming Fellow Travelers. (Showtime)
A new clip from the upcoming queer political thriller series Fellow Travelers hints at the promised “extraordinary” sex scenes between stars Jonathan Bailey and Matt Bomer.
The new miniseries will track the dramatic love story between its two queer lead characters, Hawkins Fuller and Tim Laughlin, across four tumultuous, devastating decades.
Bridgerton star Jonathan Bailey is Tim, who is described as gentle, naive and vulnerable, and with a steadfast religion, while The Normal Heart’s Matt Bomer is the “complicated” and closeted “Hawk”, a political official with a girlfriend (played by M3gan star Allison Williams).
Fellow Travelers follows the pair’s love affair from their first meeting in Washington during the McCarthy era of the 50s, through to the onslaught of the Aids crisis in the 80s. The years in between were some of the most harrowing for the queer community, and is shown in the forbidden desire between Hawk and Tim.
In the first sneak preview clip, Hawkins is seen lounging in an armchair, wearing only a shirt and his underwear.
Tim moves towards him and softly perches on his lap, letting his lover undo his shirt buttons.
After discussing the inner workings of the day’s politics, Tim asks Hawkins if he can accompany him to a party.
“To Joe’s? I mean, don’t get me wrong, he would climb on to you like a jellyfish. You’re not dressed for it, and you don’t have a date,” Hawkins says firmly.
“I’d be with you,” comes Tim’s reply, but Hawk rebuffs him. “This is the real world, skippy,” he says, indicating that their relationship would be more than frowned upon.
“I’m your boy, right?” Tim asks, inches away from Hawkins’ face, “and your boy wants to go to the party.”
Hawkins then asks cheekily: “How much does he want to go?” and it becomes clear that one of the “extraordinary” sex scenes that Bailey and Bomer have previously talked about is about to happen.
In a new, behind-the-scenes interview with some of the show’s cast and creators, Entertainment Weekly uncovered exactly how sexual Fellow Travelers is set to be, with the publication describing the scenes as some of the most erotic depictions of man-on-man sex ever shown on a premium television network.
The sexual tension is clear from the very start of the series, too. Daniel Minahan, who directed the first episode, told EW: “What I was going for in those first two hours was this idea of Tim, who’s not particularly sexually experienced, having this almost transcendent experience with Hawk which imprints on him.”
The chemistry between Bomer and Bailey was reportedly so “electric” upon the first reading that one of the producers cried, while, by the end, writers had run out of sex acts to depict between the pair.
As well as following the love affair between Tim and Hawkins, the seven-episode series will follow the lives of two other queer characters: Jelani Alladin as Marcus Hooks, a political journalist, and Noah J. Ricketts as Frankie Hines, a drag queen working the city’s underground queer clubs.
Fellow Travelers is due premiere on Showtime on 27 October in the US, and the following day on Paramount+ in the UK.
