Created by Ron Nyswaner (The Painted Vale, Why Stop Now), the miniseries Fellow Travelers debuted on Showtime on October 29th. The series stars Matt Bomer (White Collar, Magic Mike) as Hawkins Fuller and Jonathan Bailey (Bridgerton, Crashing) as Tim Laughlin, and the premise revolves around their forbidden romance. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Bomer and Bailey spoke about the series and its importance in a Zoom meeting.
When talking about the series and the way fans have interacted with it, Bomer told The Hollywood Reporter, “It’s so nice to be able to have discourse with people who are responding to the show. That’s been really refreshing and enlightening.”
Bailey added that the series “felt new and it hadn’t been done in this way — in an elevated, eight-hour, rich aesthetic with gay actors. The queer experience is so different for so many people, but the one thing that unites the queer experience is these moments in history.”
When asked how it has been seeing people connect in an emotional way to the series, Bomer explained, “I won’t name names or anything, but I’ve known people over the years who’ve made similar choices that Hawk made in order to survive. Not governmentally — I mean in a society that certainly didn’t want to see them succeed. But for me, the most refreshing thing has been the young people who are really engaged in the show and knew nothing about the Lavender Scare, and are speaking to the show and the characters, but also, aspects of our history that they were unaware of that the show has — I don’t want to say taught them about, because it’s not a teaching tool — but they’ve learned about through the show.”
Bailey continued, “When people respond in that way and you hear their personal stories, it’s amazing that people feel that they want to share that. It’s the most grounding thing to tell a story and investigate a time or a period or a movement, that hopefully leaves an imprint on people, and/or catalyzes them to tell people and talk about their own stuff. That’s the dream, really.”
The Hollywood Reporter also asked both Bailey and Bomer if they ever expected a show like this to exist where two main gay characters are played by gay actors.
Bomer responded, “Honestly, no. My mind has been blown so many times over the past 20 years. I’m just so grateful that the gatekeepers gave us this opportunity. I was doubtful, almost up to the 25th hour on this, that they were really going to put the money and the opportunity into this series that they did. And I’m just so grateful that people who are in the position of calling the shots gave us the chance to tell the story — and the way we needed to.”
Bailey added, “And it’s funny, the one thing I have thought over the years is — I’ve just looked at gay characters, they’re such rich, brilliant, oppressed, complicated, joyous characters to play, so of course people want to play them. And this is a brilliant example of: What better way to do a character study of two polar-opposite gay characters than have gay people play them? But that’s what I felt growing up. I just thought, ‘Of course people want to play those parts,’ which is great. It’s just, what happens if, just for a moment, gay people play them? And I do think that everyone can play everything, and that’s what we should be headed toward. But I do think there’s a balance that needs, and needed, addressing. And there are a lot of people whose questioning and hard work have created a world in which this can fly.”