Showtime’s Fellow Travelers left the internet buzzing with chatter about the sex scenes between stars Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey , which Bomer says is all thanks to the support system making the project. Fellow Travelers aired on the network in fall 2023 and is based on Thomas Mallon ’s 2007 novel of the same name. In the limited series, Bailey, 36, and Bomer, 46, play two political staffers who fall in love and hide their affair.
It takes place in the 1950s, a time when openly gay men were not permitted to hold positions in the federal government — and the so-called Red Scare led by Senator Joseph McCarthy created a climate of fear and paranoia Reflecting on how far queer storytelling has come, Bomer, who came out as gay in 2012, said he doesn’t know if he would have “seen the script for it 10 years ago.” “I have to say creatively on this, so much of my cynicism was obliterated, particularly by the fact that we were lucky enough to work with [production company] Fremantle and Showtime, who from the beginning were giving us notes that weren’t constricting at all,” Bomer, 46, said while appearing on the Tuesday, August 20 episode of Entertainment Weekly’ s “ The Awardist ” podcast. (Both Bomer and Bailey were nominated for Emmys for their performances.
) “They were actually really liberating,” the Doom Patrol actor continued. “They were saying, no, go farther. Embarrass yourself.
Go too far. Try to scare us. Try to see how far you can push it.
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